Qosh_Tepa_Canal
Qosh Tepa Canal
Water transmission project in Afghanistan
The Qosh Tepa Canal (Pashto: د قوشتپې کنال; Persian: کانال قوش تپه; Uzbek: Qoʻshtepa kanali) is a canal being built in northern Afghanistan to divert water from the Amu Darya.[1] The main canal is expected to be 285 km long and the overall initiative seeks to convert 550,000 hectares of desert into farmland.[2] The Qosh Tepa Canal begins in Balkh Province and is expected to end in Faryab while passing through Jowzjan.[3]
The Taliban-run government of Afghanistan has made the canal a priority project and the construction begun in early 2022.[1] Images supplied by Planet Labs showed that from April 2022 to February 2023 more than 100 km of the canal had been excavated.[2] The first phase of the project was completed in October 2023,[4][5] with the second phase immediately commencing.[6][7]
Independent experts and engineers have expressed skepticism and concern about the project, stating that the Afghan government does not possess the know-how to effectively complete the canal. In particular, they have noted that there is a lack of oversight with "rudimentary" construction methods being employed.[8] In December 2023, it was reported that the canal had experienced a major breach, with satellite images showing a large body of water forming near the place where the embankment had collapsed.