In early June, I am standing outside of a home in Kabul, Afghanistan, watching a large drilling machine parked on what was once a lovely garden, now a muddy patch.
Soon workers arrive for another noisy, dusty day of digging for water.
The well dried up a week ago.
As of today, the household, home to several members of the group Afghan Peace Volunteers, has no water.
The current population, estimated around 4.5 million, is expected to reach 9 million by 2050.
The estimated groundwater potential is enough to supply only 2 million inhabitants with water.
Alarming reports say that drought now afflicts 20 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces.
It’s difficult to imagine that Afghanistan, already burdened by 40 years of war, will escape eventual water wars.
Despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars on non-military aid to Afghanistan, the United States has done little to improve Afghanistan’s infrastructure or alleviate its alarming water crisis.
On May 13, a single-file procession of Pashto men started off on a 400-mile trek along dusty roads from Helmand to Kabul, to call for the Afghan government and the warring parties to end the war.