For more than 50 years, Afghanistan has contemplated building an enormous canal that will divert the waters of the Amu Darya River and irrigate the country\u2019s dry northern plains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In January this year, it became suddenly apparent that the project is well underway, with the release of a video<\/a> by the Taliban. Since then, the Qosh Tepa canal, which may divert up to a third<\/a> of the Amu Darya, has been the subject of international interest and concern<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt is our own fault that we are not prepared for such a situation,\u201d said Yusup Kamalov, an Uzbek ecologist who is chair of NGO the Union for the Defense of the Aral and Amu Darya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Wider than the length of three Olympic swimming pools, already more than a third complete, and with 8.2 billion Afghan Afghanis (about USD 94 million) of public money spent on its first phase, the canal is intended to \u201cturn 550,000 hectares of barren land into much-needed farmlands\u201d for growing wheat and vegetable oil, Zabihullah Mujahid, spokesperson for Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, told The Third Pole.<\/p>\n\n\n\n