Afghan capital losing race against water shortages

KABUL: Every week, Bibi Jan scrapes together some of her husband´s meagre daily wage to buy precious water from rickshaw-drawn tankers that supply residents of Afghanistan´s increasingly parched capital.

Kabul faces a looming water crisis, driven by unruly and rapid urbanisation, mismanagement over years of conflict, and climate change, meaning people like Bibi Jan are sometimes forced to choose between food and water. “When my children have only tea for a few days, they say, ´You bought water and nothing for us´,” the 45-year-old housewife told AFP, describing reusing her supplies for bathing, dishes and laundry.

Experts have long sounded the alarm over Kabul´s water problems, which are worsening even as many international players have backed off big infrastructure projects and slashed funding to Afghanistan since the Taliban government took power in 2021.

“There could be no ground water in Kabul by 2030” without urgent action, the UN children´s agency Unicef warned last year. Other experts are more cautious, citing limited consistent and reliable data, but say the situation is clearly deteriorating.

A 2030 cliff is a “worst-case scenario”, said water resources management expert Assem Mayar. But even if slated development projects are completed in a few years, it “doesn´t mean the situation would become better than now”, Mayar said.