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Afghanistan Seeks to Control Its Own Water Destiny
May 6th, 2023
Via The Diplomat, a look at how the Taliban’s plan to upgrade Afghanistan’s water infrastructure is raising tensions with neighboring countries: Facing acute drought conditions, the Taliban government is undertaking an ambitious program to upgrade its water infrastructure. However, the program has elevated tensions with the countries surrounding Afghanistan. Kabul lacks the technical ability to […]
Read more »The Water Brokers
May 4th, 2023
Courtesy of GRIST, a look at a small Nevada company which spent decades buying water and now – as the West dries up – is cashing out: For the first two decades of the 21st century, not even a once-in-a-millennium drought could deter real estate developers from building vast suburban tracts on the wild edges […]
Read more »Afghan Canal A Test For Taliban Ties In Water-Stressed Central Asia
April 9th, 2023
Via Radio Free Europe, commentary on a planned new Afghan canal which will parch an already water-stressed Central Asia: When the Taliban returned to power in 2021 in a lightning military insurrection that toppled Afghanistan’s internationally recognized government, the country immediately fell into diplomatic isolation. Two of Kabul’s neighbors to the north, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan, […]
Read more »Taliban Megaproject Could Leave Central Asian Region Without Water
April 7th, 2023
Via , a report on that Taliban’s mega canal project: In Central Asia, the already complicated issue of transboundary waters has become aggravated again. Afghanistan is actively implementing a project to build a giant Koshtepa canal in Balkh province on the border with Turkmenistan. The start of its construction was announced a year ago, AN Podrobno.uz reports. The […]
Read more »The Taliban Are Digging An Enormous Canal
April 7th, 2023
Via The Economist, a report on a mega-project in northern Afghanistan that risks raising regional tensions: Taliban officials have started talking up a new canal under construction in the arid north of Afghanistan. A video recently posted on YouTube shows shiny diggers roaring over sand dunes and workers from different ethnic groups toiling together. The Islamist […]
Read more »The Winds of Change: The Social and Political Cost of Climate Inaction in Central Asia
February 15th, 2023
Via The Diplomat, an article on how climate change may be an “accelerant” for global cooperation, but it also poses significant social, political, and geopolitical challenges in Central Asia: Climate change is a global issue that affects many regions of the world, including Central Asia. The region is experiencing unprecedented climate crisis, causing significant changes […]
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