FAIZABAD (SW): As Tajikistan has stepped up unilateral coastal consolidation, the flood destructions of the Amu (Oxus) River in Badakhshan province has increased.
Officials from the provincial chapter of Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) say that as a result of increased Tajikistan's coastal consolidation, a number of residential houses, agricultural lands and gardens have been destroyed in the border regions of Afghanistan.
Ghulam Hashim Sayi, the director of the provincial chapter of MoFA, told Salam Watandar that Tajikistan has been doing unilateral coastal consolidation of Amu (Oxus) River which is continuing towards Shighnan district of Badakhshan. But, Sayi gave assurance of a joint border cooperation commission working to resolve the matter.
Some residents of Badakhshan living in the border area of the River showing concerns have said if the unilateral coastal consolidation is not stopped and the government does not consolidate Afghan side of the River the flood destructions will be expanding.
Ghazi Beg, a local resident, said more than 30 thousand residents of Shighnan district are in danger of floods which can only be prevented if government consolidates river banks.
But, Abdul Basir Qanit, head of the sub-division of the upper five river of Ishkashim in Badakhshan, said that to prevent the threats of the Amu River, they have begun work on coastal lines in a number of Badakhshan’s border districts over the past several years, and are also planning to launch other programs in this regard.
Although the governments of Afghanistan and Tajikistan have not experienced border tensions since the geographical boundaries drawn by Tsarist Russia and Great Britain in 1896, recently the increased work of Tajikistan's coastal consolidation along the Amu River has been criticized by local government administrations in the northern and northeastern provinces of the country.
The Amu River originates from the Pamir Mountains and about 1126 kilometers flow in the northern border of Afghanistan with Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Turkmenistan.
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