Afghanistan and transboundary water management on the Amu Darya: a political history

Afghanistan is a key Amu Darya riparian state. Its fellow riparians have established water management structures, which have not included Afghanistan or recognised its interests however. This paper explores why this is the case. Regional power politics and antipathy towards cooperation, institutional inertia and self-interest, Afghanistan’s slow emergence from conflict, and its present limited water demands probably explain Kabul’s isolation. Its participation in these structures could help it and the region’s economic and environmental development and encourage cooperative processes. Afghanistan’s exclusion is not at present a major political, security or environmental problem however.