WATER POLICY OF AFGHANISTAN IN CENTRAL ASIA

Author(s): Zonn Igor Sergeevich, Zhiltsov Sergey Sergeevich, Semyonov Alexander Vyacheslavovich, Kostyanoy Andrey Gennadievich

Rubric: Environmental economics

DOI: 10.21777/2587-554X-2018-3-54-66

Release: 2018-3 (26)

Pages: 54-66

Keywords: Afghanistan, water resources, irrigation

Annotation: The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan is one of the coastal states of the largest transboundary Central Asian river Amu Darya. From here she starts her run, forming a border with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Almost 14% of the catchment area of the Aral Sea (1,771.5 thousand km2) is in Afghanistan (246 km2), home to about 20% of the country’s population. In the conditions of still regional instability, the tasks set by Afghanistan for the exploitation of water resources should be implemented using the water potential of the Amu Darya River, which in turn is used by Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. Over the past 30 years, Afghanistan’s interests in the water sector have been ignored. Because of the military conflict, Afghanistan is not involved in transboundary water management agreements, although it is their potential participant. With the stabilization of the domestic political situation in Afghanistan, the main economic development will be aimed at ensuring food security through the growth of irrigated agricultural land, which in turn will increase the amount of water already used by the already over-exploited Amu Darya runoff. This will entail a decrease in the water supply in Central Asia, which will become a worrying sign and will have serious consequences for Afghanistan’s interstate relations with the Central Asian states. The joint use of the waters of Afghan rivers entering the territory of neighboring Central Asian states will in the future become one of the most complex problems of interstate and, above all, economic relations.

Bibliography: Zonn IG.SE., Zhiltsov SE.SE., Semyonov AL.VY., Kostyanoy AN.GE. WATER POLICY OF AFGHANISTAN IN CENTRAL ASIA // Economics and Management. – 2018. – № 3 (26). – С. 54-66. doi: 10.21777/2587-554X-2018-3-54-66