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India's Modi visits Afghanistan to inaugurate dam

June 4, 2016

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the Central Asian country in order to open a much-hyped hydroelectric dam. The project has been in the works for decades.

https://p.dw.com/p/1J0PA
Salma Hydroelectric Dam
Image: Getty Images/AFP/A. Karim

Narendra Modi visited Afghanistan on Saturday in an effort to help build ties between India and the Central Asian nation.

The prime minister's trip is to focus on the inauguration of the Salma Dam, the country's biggest hydroelectric project, which was first planned in 1976 but only recently completed.

Earlier, Modi tweeted out some of the details of the project.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was to join Modi during the opening ceremony. The dam will be able to generate 42 megawatts of power and irrigate some 80,000 hectares of land, according to the Bloomberg business website.

India has invested billions of dollars in Afghanistan since US forces toppled the Taliban in 2001. The countries' strengthening ties have sparked fears of a possible proxy war in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan, a historic backer of the Taliban.

Modi is due to visit Switzerland, Qatar, Mexico and the US as part of a five-nation trip.

blc/jm (AFP)

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