Water rights and conflict resolution processes in Afghanistan: The case of the Sar-i-Pul sub-basin

On the 3rd February 2014, AREU convened a roundtable at the Ministry of Rural Rehabilitation and Development (MRRD) on this case study. The Deputy Minister of MRRD, Tariq Esmati, was present and thanked AREU for the report and added that much of AREU’s research has been beneficial to his work at the MRRD. AREU researcher and co-author Mujib Ahmad Azizi, then gave a thorough presentation on the paper. Approximately 25 ministry employees were present.

After Mujib’s presentation, Deputy Minister Esmati said the findings were “very interesting” and that “this paper may help MRRD develop a national policy to resolve water conflicts by working with the people in the provinces.”Further, he stated that some of the findings in the paper validated MRRD’s approach in some water governance issues over the past ten years. He then added that MRRD staff should look to this research to see how lessons-learned can be applied to other programs and ministries so they can also be successful. The Deputy Minister specifically suggested that AREU make the same presentation to MAIL.