Pak’s Water Woes To Rise: After IWT Suspension By India, Taliban To Build Dams On Kunar | Exclusive

Last Updated:December 16, 2025, 19:43 IST

“The Afghan Taliban regime has approved the plan. The diversion of Kunar water will directly reduce flow into Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region,” say Taliban sources

The Afghanistan-Pakistan ties have been tense as clashes broke out after Pakistan reportedly launched cross-border airstrikes in Kabul on October 9. (File)

After India’s suspension of the Indus Water Treaty, Pakistan is set to receive another blow – Taliban will build dams on River Kunar to choke downstream flow into Khyber-Pakhtunkhawa.

The Taliban has termed the move, which may emerge as another flashpoint in Afghanistan-Pakistan tension, an “internal development to boost food security" that is not intended to harm downstream flows, said sources.

Kunar is 480-km-long river originating from Pakistan’s Chitral area. It passes through Afghanistan’s Nangahar and Kunar provinces and ends in Pakistan’s Indus River. The Kabul and Kunar rivers, which flows into Pakistan from Afghanistan, are major source of water for Pakistan.

“The Afghan Taliban regime has approved the plan to divert Kunar water. The project will channel water through the Gambiri Desert to the Duranti Dam reservoir in Nangarhar province. The strategic de-watering will threaten irrigation, drinking water, hydropower in Chitral and downstream areas," said sources.

“This is to help irrigate dry farmlands and increase crop production in southern areas. But as the upper riparian country, Afghanistan’s diversion of Kunar water will directly reduce flow into Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region."

The escalation could seriously damage relations and risk wider conflict between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Taliban sources say the project is aimed at irrigating of barren land to boost Afghanistan’s food security.

“As an upper state, we have the sovereign right to utilise its water resources for national reconstruction. The diversion is not intended to harm downstream flows. Pakistan is making unnecessary noise on this," they said.

On May 12, after the ‘Operation Sindoor’ retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said “blood and water cannot flow together".

Reiterating it during the I-Day speech, Modi underscored India’s suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) with its firm stance against cross-border terrorism, stating that while India had paused military action, it would not continue business-as-usual with Pakistan, which he equated to a situation where both terror and peaceful water-sharing could not coexist.

The Afghanistan-Pakistan ties have been tense as clashes broke out after Pakistan reportedly launched cross-border airstrikes in Kabul on October 9, targeting TTP camps. Pakistan accused the Afghan Taliban of harbouring TTP militants, responsible for killing hundreds of Pakistani soldiers since 2021. In response, Taliban mounted a major counteroffensive across the border, killing 58 Pakistani soldiers and destroying 20 security outposts .

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