From Kashmir's glaciers to the Hindu Kush mountains, Pakistan's lifelines are becoming leverage. India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty, and now Afghanistan is building dams on the Kunar River, threatening to choke Islamabad's water supply.
Pakistan is drowning in irony. The country that once weaponised terrorism now finds itself surrounded by neighbours weaponising water. India struck first, suspending the Indus Waters Treaty after the Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 civilians. Now, Taliban-ruled Afghanistan has joined the offensive, ordering rapid construction of dams on the Kunar River that could strangle water flow into Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.
For decades, the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty kept tensions in check, giving India control over eastern rivers whilst Pakistan managed the western ones. But in April 2025, New Delhi put that agreement on hold, disrupting Pakistan's irrigation networks and hydroelectric output. The message was brutal: Why water the fields of those who bury our citizens?
Just as Islamabad scrambled to contain that crisis, Kabul opened a second front. The Taliban's Supreme Leader, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada, commanded the construction of dams to assert "water sovereignty". The timing was no accident. Following deadly border clashes along the disputed Durand Line that left hundreds dead, Afghanistan's dam decision feels like payback served cold.
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