The Taliban said that Afghanistan has no obligations to its neighbors in the Amu Darya

Afghanistan has the right to use the water resources of the Amu Darya, besides, the country has no agreements with its neighbors on water use. This was stated by the Acting Minister of Energy and Water Resources of the Taliban government, Abdul Latif Mansour, TOLOnews reports.

"Those who express their concern should do so on the basis of an agreement, but Afghanistan does not have any agreements on water resources. In the current situation, we have no agreements on the Amu Darya River basin," he said, commenting on concerns about the construction of the Kushtepa canal.

According to the minister, the current Afghan authorities are ready to discuss the water issue of the Amu Darya in order to dispel the fears of neighboring countries.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Council of the Heads of the founding States of the International Fund for Saving the Aral Sea in Dushanbe, President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said that the Kushtepa Canal in Afghanistan will radically change the water balance in Central Asia. Due to its construction, a new participant in the water use process has appeared in the region, which is not bound by obligations with other countries, he noted.

The President of Uzbekistan proposed to form a joint working group to study the influence of the canal on the water regime of the Amu Darya, as well as to consider the possibility of involving Afghanistan in a regional dialogue on joint water use.

In 2022, the construction of the Kushtepa irrigation canal for water intake from the Amu Darya started in the north of Afghanistan. According to experts, the canal will increase water scarcity in Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan.