Prime Minister Modi & Afghanistan President to discuss Shahtoot dam project today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Ashraf Ghani are likely to discuss an agreement on the Shahtoot dam in India-Afghanistan summit-level talks to be held on Tuesday, according to ANI reports. Shahtoot dam is expected to provide clean drinking water to at least two million citizens of Kabul which will also be used for irrigation.

India Announces High-impact Projects for Afghanistan

In November 2020, Union Minister for External Affairs Dr S Jaishankar had announced at the Geneva Donors Conference that India had concluded with Afghanistan an agreement for the construction of the Shatoot dam, which would provide safe drinking water to 2 million residents of Kabul city. India had announced a phase of nearly 150 high-impact community projects in Afghanistan worth USD 80 million (Rs 592 crore) as the country's development portfolio in the war-ravaged nation had reached over USD 3 billion (Rs 22,200 crore).

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In December 2020, India at the UN had said that the international community should work towards the removal of all artificial transit barriers imposed on Afghanistan, ensuring that all such rights are guaranteed to the war-torn country under bilateral and multilateral agreements without any hindrance. India’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Nagaraj Naidu, speaking in the UN General Assembly in support of a resolution on Afghanistan, said it is important for Afghanistan to have access to the high seas for a prosperous future. “The international community should work towards removal of all artificial transit barriers imposed on Afghanistan and ensure that all transit rights are guaranteed to Afghanistan under bilateral and multilateral transit agreements without any hindrance. We are glad to note that the resolution before us calls upon states to do so,” Naidu had said. 

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(With Agency Inputs)