Kabul: Salma Dam, also known as the India-Afghan friendship dam has been targeted by the Taliban rockets and the rockets and artillery shells have landed close to the dam which has not been hit, The Khaama Press reported citing Afghan officials.

Salma dam in Herat's Cheshte Sharif district is one of the largest dams in Afghanistan and provides irrigation water and electricity to thousands of families in the province.

"Rockets and artillery shells landed close to the dam but the dam itself is not hit yet," The Khaama Press reported citing the National Water Affairs Regulatory Authority of Afghanistan (NWARA). In a plea, the NWARA also urged the Taliban to not target and destroy national assets in the country.

Salma Dam has a water storage capacity of 640 million cubic meters and an irrigation capacity of 2,00,000 acres of farmland from the Chishti Sharif District of Herat to the Zulfiqar area on the Iran Border. This dam has been India's most expensive infrastructural project in Afghanistan in recent years.

Recently, Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai's advisor Wahid Omar had pointed out that the Taliban have a strong relationship with the al-Qaeda terrorist network, and both the groups have been jointly attacking government institutions in the country.

Agencies