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Taliban's new canal threatens Central Asian countries relying on Amu Darya for water

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

It's been called the Nile of Central Asia. The Amu Darya River flows for thousands of miles through four countries and eventually spills into the shrinking Aral Sea. Now a canal being built by the Taliban could pose a significant threat to those countries who depend on its waters downstream. NPR's Above the Fray international reporting fellow, Valerie Kipnis, reports from the Uzbekistan town of Termez.

VALERIE KIPNIS, BYLINE: Kamoliddin Kosimov looks out across his cotton fields towards the endless Afghan desert. His 175-acre farm sits near the border of Afghanistan in the Uzbek city of Termez. This is where the grand Amu Darya River first enters Uzbekistan.

KAMOLIDDIN KOSIMOV: (Through interpreter) We are lucky here. We are the first to get the water.

KIPNIS: And despite being one of the hottest and driest points in the country, it's lush with green crops.

KOSIMOV: (Through interpreter) We have good land and good water. We get a lot. We work a lot. We earn a lot. Because we have water, we have everything.

(SOUNDBITE OF FLOWING WATER)

KIPNIS: That's thanks, of course, to the Amu Darya flowing through it, a glistening ribbon of light on the horizon. This river is a lifeline for the farmers in Uzbekistan, but a threat is quickly building right across the border.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED MUSICAL ARTIST: (Singing in non-English language spoken).

KIPNIS: This Taliban video shows thousands of workers with new equipment digging into sand dunes in the desert.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: (Non-English language spoken).

KIPNIS: They're more than two years into building the Qosh Tepa Canal, the Taliban's landmark construction project, which will soon begin to siphon water from the Amu Darya River, a critical resource for the region.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: The Qosh Tepa Canal project, one of the national and vital projects across the country, is designed in three phases, and...

KIPNIS: Nearly 200 miles of earthen canal costing the country millions of dollars and, according to the government, paid entirely with Afghan tax revenues.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Afghanistan will be self-sufficient by wheat and other grains, and...

KIPNIS: The Taliban boasts that this canal could help Afghan farmers irrigate more than 2,000 square miles of desert. But when the Qosh Tepa is completed, farmers like Kosimov will likely get less water, which is why they've begun to prepare and learn about water-saving practices. Kosimov doesn't spend too much time worrying about his own supply. But much further downstream, where the Amu Darya winds down into its delta, the river turns into a smaller version of itself. Kosimov says it's the folks here that'll have to worry. Here, the soil is so dry and salty that it's speckled with white dust and cracks as you walk. And here, all eyes are on the Taliban's massive infrastructure project. Farmers like Khalif worry about the impact of the canal on their already dwindling and unreliable supply of water. The farmers I spoke to about this issue asked to only go by their first name for fear of government retaliation.

KHALIF: (Through interpreter) We are watching online what's happening. Everybody has the right to drink water. They are by the water. If they're by the water, why not?

KIPNIS: But in private, Khalif and other farmers I spoke with voiced a similar reservation. Could there be a world where there's not enough water left for them? Afghanistan predicts that the Qosh Tepa will be completed by 2028. Already, four water-hungry countries rely on the Amu Darya. Soon, with the completion of the Qosh Tepa Canal, there will be one more vying for its resources. And if the countries who rely on the water don't work together and prepare in time for this, it could look like a future rife with tensions over water rights, conflict and challenges in securing sustainable livelihoods for millions of people.

For NPR News, this is Valerie Kipnis, reporting from Termez, Uzbekistan.

(SOUNDBITE OF AKIRA KOSEMURA'S "AONO AND AKINE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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Valerie Kipnis