In July 2024, The What If organized a dialogue with Afghan representatives to explore solutions to the water crisis in Afghanistan. 

Objective of the Dialogue

To explore how restoring the traditional Karez water system can strengthen Afghanistan’s water security, reduce resource-driven conflicts, and serve as a community-driven solution to climate and governance challenges.

Participants’ Backgrounds

  • A former legal advisor and expert on Afghanistan’s National Water Strategy
  • A water engineer with a decade of experience in irrigation and water resource management
  • A development expert and moderator with a background in dialogue facilitation and civil society coordination

Five Key Takeaways

The Karez system Is a Heritage Solution to a Modern Crisis

Afghanistan faces severe water insecurity due to population growth, climate change, and groundwater depletion. The ancient Karez system, a sustainable method of channeling groundwater from highlands to farms, offers a historically proven solution. Participants emphasized that its revival could reduce dependency on deep wells and restore equitable water access.

Revitalization Requires Community Ownership, Not Just Funding

Top-down government projects have repeatedly failed. The most successful water initiatives in the past, like the National Solidarity Program, were community-led, built on participatory planning, and included both men and women in all phases. Ownership is critical to long-term sustainability, especially in areas lacking government recognition or donor trust.

In these projects [in Herat, Badghis, and Faryab], the government was involved 70%, and the local communities 30%. While I cannot claim that they were 100% successful, they were quite effective because the communities were engaged, motivated, and understood the principles. 

Neglect of Women Undermines Water Governance

Women were historically central to agricultural water use and management but are systematically excluded from decision-making today. Participants called for the integration of women, both educated and non-educated, into local water committees, legal forums, and training programs. Their exclusion was cited as a major cause of project failure in the past.

Groundwater Mismanagement Is a Ticking Time Bomb

Unregulated deep well drilling and overuse of solar-powered pumps have caused alarming drops in groundwater levels: up to 60 meters in places like Farah. Without immediate regulation and public education on water conservation, entire regions may become uninhabitable within a decade. The revival of the Karez must go hand-in-hand with watershed management.

Policy, Data, and Legal Clinics Are Key Enablers

The absence of policy support and reliable data on groundwater severely limits progress. Participants proposed legal clinics in local communities to mediate water disputes, raise awareness, and build technical literacy. Research institutions, NGOs, and media must also play a role in collecting data and reshaping public narratives around water and climate resilience.


Alongside awareness programs, we need to mentally and ideologically support the farmers to some extent and establish legal clinics,.[…] Legal clinics should start from local communities and extend to the private sector. These clinics would begin by raising awareness among local communities on how to resolve water-related disputes, what practices to eliminate, and how to use water efficiently. Regarding the private sector, the clinics would guide them on what laws to follow, how to create facilities, and how to accept their responsibilities. … So the solution is to establish legal clinics and ensure a law is put into practice.

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All participants names are withheld to protect their anonymity and safety.

We used AI to help us with the summary of the dialogue’s transcript, and with the copy editing of the final draft.