Taliban seize major dam in Kandahar’s Arghandab district

KABUL (Pajhwok): Taliban fighters have claimed taking control of a major dam in southern Kandahar province an assertion confirmed by local officials.

“We have seized the Dahla Dam in Arghandab district,” Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf was quoted as saying by AFP.

The dam, providing irrigation water to farmers through a network of canals as well as potable water to Kandahar City, was seized by the rebels after months of fighting.

Haji Gulbuddin, administrative chief of an adjacent district, confirmed to the news agency the dam “is now in the control of the Taliban.”

Toryalai Mahboobi, head of the water department. Said the Taliban had recently warned Dahla dam workers to stop going to work.

Constructed by the US about seven decades back, Dahla — the second largest dam in Afghanistan — provides irrigates farmlands in about seven districts of the province.

Unnamed officials told AFP the fighters planted explosives across the area, including in residential complexes, before retreating.

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