RASC News Agency: The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has issued a sobering warning on the worsening water crisis in Afghanistan, while announcing that nearly 139,000 families across the country have recently gained access to clean drinking water as a result of its latest interventions. In its newly released report, the UNDP emphasizes that chronic water scarcity particularly acute in rural areas has profoundly impacted internal displacement, livelihoods, and agricultural productivity. The burden of this crisis, the report notes, falls disproportionately on women, who are traditionally tasked with securing water for their families, often walking long distances under harsh conditions.
To address mounting challenges, the UNDP reports that over 80 irrigation canals and 10 small-scale dams (check dams) have been constructed in recent months. In provinces such as Kandahar, Zabul, and Nangarhar, the rehabilitation of traditional underground aqueducts (kariz systems) and the development of new water infrastructure have revitalized local agriculture, enabled displaced families to return, and enhanced community resilience. This report comes amid growing international concern over the devastating consequences of climate change on Afghanistan’s already fragile water resources. Experts point to an alarming confluence of factors prolonged drought, declining rainfall, shrinking groundwater reserves, and increasing urban water pollution as key threats to sustainable access to safe drinking water.
Afghanistan, already grappling with widespread economic collapse and institutional dysfunction, faces a looming water crisis that could imperil millions if left unaddressed. According to environmental and development specialists, without large-scale investment in water infrastructure and the implementation of climate-resilient policies, the country is on track to suffer severe humanitarian and ecological fallout. Though the UNDP’s initiatives offer a degree of relief, the scale of the crisis far exceeds the current response capacity. Many rural communities remain cut off from clean water, and aid agencies continue to operate under restrictive conditions in the absence of effective governance or coordination mechanisms.
The international community has repeatedly emphasized that access to water is not just a development issue, but a human right. In Afghanistan’s current context where governance remains unaccountable and basic public services have all but collapsed the absence of a coherent national strategy to manage water resources leaves the population dangerously exposed to further environmental shocks. Analysts warn that if meaningful climate adaptation and infrastructure resilience strategies are not urgently adopted and supported, Afghanistan’s water crisis may soon become one of the region’s most pressing humanitarian disasters.
