Is joint management of Kabul River by Pakistan and Afghanistan possible as the orphan river finds few takers?
With flotsam, tonnes of plastic in the form of bags, bobbing forks, knives, even spoons, bowls and plates, the once happy Kabul River (KR), meandering across the city, is nothing more than a sewer. Where it meets the Indus at Attock, it is a ravaged and emotionless grey.
“The difference is all too stark,” says Azeem Shah, regional researcher at International Water Management Institute (IWMI). He may have stood at the very same spot on the Attock bridge over a dozen times; yet the sight of the two rivers flowing side by side never fails to fascinate him. “KR is greyish, while the Indus is a beautiful shade of blue,” he said.