Water and sanitation assistance for Kabul: a lot for the happy few?

Kabul water and environmental sanitation services have been affected by war, which ravaged large portions of the city in the early 1990’s. After the fall of the Taliban in 2002, a considerable influx of returnees contributed to put an ever greater stress on already deficient systems. Large-scale water supply projects were initiated. However, they tackle only areas covered by water networks, leaving behind an estimated 60% of the population who live in ‘unplanned areas’. In order to address the needs of these ‘left-behind’ populations, organisations such as ‘Action Contre la Faim’ have designed programmes specifically for them. They intend to maximize the benefit of water and environmental sanitation by relying on affordable community-maintained systems, until access to centralized services is gained.