KABUL -- A massive canal project in Afghanistan has alarmed the country's neighbors over fears it will drain a river key to their agricultural economies, but the ruling Taliban is warning that it will press on at any cost.
The fundamentalist Afghan regime inherited the long-stalled project after it retook control of the country two years ago. Since then, it has touted the Qosh Tepa irrigation canal as a signature infrastructure build, aiming to turn some 550,000 hectares of desert into usable farmland.