REGIONAL WATER DIALOGUE IN A CHANGING POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: THE AMU DARYA RIVER BASIN
REGIONAL WATER DIALOGUE IN A CHANGING POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT: THE AMU DARYA RIVER BASIN

Summary/Abstract: This paper focuses on the evolution of regional water dialogue between Afghanistan and its co-riparians in the Amu Darya Basin, both before and after the breakup of the USSR. I argue that Afghanistan has always had a marginal role in the basin, that became even more peripheral after 1991, when the country had to relate with the post-Soviet Central Asian republics. I will begin by briefly introducing the Amu Darya Basin and its main characteristics. Subsequently, I will outline the main water agreements that Afghanistan signed with its northern neighbours, starting with the 1921 Soviet-Afghan Treaty of Friendship and finishing with the Protocol on cooperation signed with Tajikistan in 2010. Finally, I will identify some of the possible reasons for this exclusion and will focus on the necessity of including Afghanistan in regional water dialogue.

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