Taliban And Uzbekistan Officials Discuss Water Management Issues in Kabul
On Monday, the Taliban announced that Abdul Latif Mansoor, the group’s Minister of Energy and Water, met the Minister of Energy and Water of Uzbekistan in Kabul.
On Monday, the Taliban announced that Abdul Latif Mansoor, the group’s Minister of Energy and Water, met the Minister of Energy and Water of Uzbekistan in Kabul.
In a statement, the Taliban's Ministry of Energy and Water said that "water management" had been discussed during this meeting.
According to the statement, repair of the 220 KV power line, a review of the imported power system from Uzbekistan, and the progress of the 500 KV Surkhan-Pul-e-Khomri project were other topics of discussion between the two sides.
Taliban’s Ministry of Energy said that the delegation of Uzbekistan invited Mansoor to visit Tashkent soon to follow up on the discussions over water management issues.
On Sunday, October 29, a high-level Uzbekistani delegation, led by Jamshid Khodjaev, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Investment and Foreign Trade of Uzbekistan, arrived in Kabul.
Yesterday, the delegation met with Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs in Kabul. In the meeting, "water management", railway, transportation, technical extraction of mines in Afghanistan, and development of agriculture were the topics of discussion.
Issues of water management are being discussed even though the President of Uzbekistan, Shavkat Mirziyoyev, had previously criticised the Taliban for building a water canal in Qosh Tepa without coordination with neighbouring countries.
On September 15, at the fifth Central Asian Heads of State Summit in Tajikistan, Mirziyoyev warned that the Taliban is building the Qosh Tepa Canal and can fundamentally change the water dynamic and balance in Central Asia. He said that a new consumer has appeared that "does not have any commitment to our countries”.
Despite criticisms, the Taliban not only continued the construction of the canal, but on October 11, they announced the beginning of the second phase of transfer of water to the Qosh Tepa canal after completing the first phase.
At the second phase's inauguration ceremony, in what appears to be a response to Uzbekistan, Mullah Yaqoob, the Taliban's defence minister, stated, "Neighbours should not worry, we will never violate the rights of our neighbours while using the water of Amu Darya."
