introductionThese dams provide both water for irrigation and a limited and often inter-
mittent supply of electricity to adjacent urban centres. All of Afghanistan’s
dams and equipment are ageing and in urgent need of repair. Two of the
most important dams, the Darunta on the Arghandab river and the Kajaki
on the Helmand, are effectively out of government hands and are controlled
by insurgents. In 2016 the Indian-funded Selma Dam on the Hari Rud was
finally opened, the project having been postponed since the 1970s due to
the Soviet invasion and subsequent civil war. The present government
plans are for at least fifteen more major dual-use storage facilities, though
where the money will come from for such an ambitious programme is
anyone’s guess.
Afghanistan has five major river basin systems: the Kabul, the
Amu Darya, the Balkh Ab, the Murghab-Hari Rud and the Helmand-
Arghandab.4 Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, lies on the Kabul river in
a plateau that is some 2,000 metres (6,560 ft) above sea level. This city
owes its position to its strategic location on the historic routes between
the Indus plains, Bamiyan, Balkh and Central Asia, though the present
Kabul–Jalalabad highway was constructed in the mid-twentieth century.
The ancient caravan road runs further south through But Khak, the Khurd
Kabul gorge, Tezin and Gandamak.
Kabul today is a sprawling city. According to un data, more than 4.
million people now live in the Afghan capital, which has one of the fastest
urban growth rates in the world. Kabul’s burgeoning population, however,
is a relatively recent phenomenon. In the mid-1970s the population was
probably only around 1 million and most Afghans lived in rural settlements
and not urban centres. Kabul’s uncontrolled growth is symptomatic of a
nationwide shift to urbanization, a trend that has placed severe strains
on an already inadequate urban infrastructure. Today Kabul is one of the
world’s most polluted cities and its streets are gridlocked with traffic.
Surrounding Kabul lie a number of fertile valleys – the Logar, the Koh
Daman and Tagab – which traditionally supplied the capital with food.
However, due to the capital’s growing population as well as demands for
luxury goods by the foreigners and the Afghan middle classes, much of
Kabul’s requirements are now imported from Pakistan, Iran and Dubai. The
extremely fertile valley of the Koh Daman, to the north of Kabul, was once
a major producer of grapes and soft fruit, while the Panjshir valley, to the
northeast of the Koh Daman, is famous for mulberries. To the west of Kabul
is the former royal hill station of Paghman and this, along with settlements
such as Shakar Darra, which lies on the eastern face of the Paghman Range,
and Gul Bahar at the mouth of the Panjshir gorge, were favourite summer