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Helmand farmers concerned about lack of water

A number of farmers around Kajaki Dam in Helmand province say their agricultural land and gardens are drying up due to the lack of water.
The farmers have called on the government to manage the Helmand River water so that water reaches their fields.
“We are facing a water shortage. We are in dire need of water and we use a water pump. While the water is not enough for us, how can we give water to Iran?” asked Abdul Jabbar, a farmer in Helmand.
“We can give water to Iran only if our water increases or if our dam stores enough water to meet our needs,” Shah Wali, another farmer in Helmand, said.
This comes after Iran’s warnings last month about the lack of water from the Helmand River feeding into Iran. They accused the Islamic Emirate of blocking the water flow and of violating a 1973 water treaty.
The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly said it is committed to the treaty but that there is not enough water to supply Iran.
"According to the 1973 treaty, we have given the Islamic Republic of Iran its share of water from the Helmand River, and we are committed to the treaty in the future. The regular meetings of the commissaries of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and the Islamic Republic of Iran are held as usual. These issues will be discussed in a friendly atmosphere and the normal and abnormal water year will be determined,” Matiullah Abid, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Energy and Water, said.
The complaints of farmers in Helmand province about the lack of water suggest that climate change has had a negative impact on Afghanistan, therefore experts say that it is the responsibility of governments to address people's concerns by formulating long-term plans.
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Public works minister, Chinese envoy discuss Afghanistan’s Wakhan Corridor project
The ministry said initial surveys for the Wakhan Corridor project have been completed and that work on the design phase is underway.

Afghanistan’s acting Minister of Public Works Mohammad Esa Sani has discussed progress on the Wakhan Corridor in the far north of the country with China’s ambassador to Kabul Zhao Xing.
According to a statement issued by the ministry, Sani thanked Zhao for China’s cooperation with Afghanistan and said Kabul and Beijing shared long-standing economic, social and political relations.
He also said efforts should be made to further strengthen ties in different areas.
The ministry said initial surveys for the Wakhan Corridor project have been completed and that work on the design phase is underway.
The two officials also discussed the Trans-Afghan railway line that is expected to start from the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, and run through major cities in Afghanistan to Hyderabad, Pakistan.
They also stressed the need to expand bilateral trade and economic cooperation, as well as implementing reconstruction projects.
Once complete, the Wakhan Corridor will stretch eastward, connecting Afghanistan to Xinjiang in China.
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Saudi Arabia rejects Israel PM Netanyahu’s remarks on displacing Palestinians

Saudi Arabia affirmed its categorical rejection of remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about displacing Palestinians from their land, the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said "Saudi state" instead of "Palestinian state", before correcting himself, Reuters reported.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu's name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a "direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty".
The kingdom said it valued "brotherly" states' rejection of Netanyahu's remarks.
"This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land," it said.
Discussions of the fate of Palestinians in Gaza has been upended by Tuesday's shock proposal from President Donald Trump that the U.S. would "take over the Gaza Strip" from Israel and create a "Riviera of the Middle East" after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.
Arab states have roundly condemned Trump's comments, which came during a fragile ceasefire in the Gaza war that Israel has been waging against the militant group Hamas, which controls the narrow strip.
Trump has said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalising ties with Israel. But Riyadh rebuffed his statements, saying it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Gaza authorities say the war has killed more than 47,000 of the nearly 2 million Palestinians who live there. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas-led gunmen killed some 1,200 people and seized more than 250 as hostages in an October 7, 2023, attack, according to Israeli tallies.
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US senator claims cash shipments still flowing into Afghanistan despite foreign aid freeze
The $40 million weekly cash transfers to Afghanistan started following the take over of power by the Islamic Emirate in 2021

US Senator Tim Burchett said this week that he believes over $40 million of American taxpayers’ dollars is still going to Afghanistan weekly, despite President Donald Trump’s freeze on foreign aid.
Speaking to Breitbart News, the Republican senator said Friday: “We’ve been told that it is, somehow they’re getting it,” he said.
“That’s on the surface that we know about.”
The $40 million weekly cash transfers to Afghanistan were started following the collapse of the former government and the take over of power by the Islamic Emirate.
However, the cash shipments have gone to the United Nations’-led humanitarian assistance program in the country, and the Islamic Emirate has repeatedly, over the years, dismissed claims that they benefit from this money.
In April 2023, Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) John Sopko testified to Congress that the U.S. had made available $8 billion to Afghanistan after the August 2021 withdrawal.
Breitbart News reported however that it is not clear whether the $40 million weekly cash infusions for humanitarian aid are being drawn from the $8 billion and over what time period the $8 billion is meant to last for.
SIGAR has however claimed that the IEA “siphoned or benefited from a considerable amount of humanitarian aid,” by infiltrating United Nations-partnered Non-Governmental Organizations to access their aid budgets; imposing taxes and “security” fees on humanitarian workers; directing aid agencies to serve IEA officials and family members; and taxing Afghan aid recipients at high rates, in some cases amounting to 60 to 100 percent of the aid received.
In December 2023, Burchett however introduced a bill to stop the flow of money to the IEA. The bill passed the US House of Representatives unanimously, but did not gain support in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
Last month, Burchett reintroduced his bill, dubbed the No Tax Dollars for Terrorists Act.
At the time, Burchett said in a statement: “I look forward to working it through both chambers and getting it to President Trump’s desk as quickly as possible.”
If passed, the bill would force the State Department to develop and implement a policy to oppose any foreign aid from going to the Islamic Emirate; it would require a report on any cash assistance programs in Afghanistan and how the US keeps the IEA from accessing that; and it would require a report on the Afghan Fund and on IEA members attached to Da Afghanistan Bank - the country’s central bank.
Speaking to Breitbart News, Burchett said his father “used to have a saying, ‘Old men make decisions and young men die.'”
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