Taliban captures key Afghan dam as American troops withdraw

THE Taliban has captured Afghanistan’s second-biggest dam after months of fierce fighting in their former bastion of Kandahar.

Dahla Dam, which provides irrigation to farmers via a network of canals as well as drinking water for the provincial capital, is now under Taliban control, officials confirmed yesterday. “We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab,” said Qari Yousuf Ahmadi, a spokesman for the Taliban.

Haji Gulbuddin, the governor of an adjacent district, confirmed the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban”.

“Our security forces … asked for reinforcements but they failed to get it,” he added.

The capture of the dam comes after clashes erupted in neighbouring Helmand province this week, days after the US military formally began withdrawing its remaining troops from Afghanistan.

Tooryalay Mahboobi, chief of the Kandahar water department, said that the Taliban recently warned Dahla employees not to go to work.

The alert followed reports last month that the insurgents had blown up a bridge that connected the dam to adjacent districts.

Dahla was built by the US nearly 70 years ago to provide water for irrigating land in about seven districts of Kandahar province.

In 2019 the Asian Development Bank approved a grant of £250million to help to expand the reservoir-style project.

In Helmand province, thousands of people have fled their homes in the face of a massive Taliban offensive against government forces.

American fighter jets have been providing air support for the Afghan forces despite the drawdown of foreign troops.

Under the administration of Donald Trump the US made a deal with the Taliban

to pull out all forces by May. But Joe Biden, his successor, announced last month that the withdrawal would be delayed until Sep 11 to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks, a move that angered the insurgents. The pullout of foreign forces comes even as efforts to hammer out a peace deal between the Afghan government and the Taliban have stalled.