New Delhi: India inked an MoU with Afghanistan for the construction of a dam that will provide safe drinking water to 20 lakh people of Kabul city.

The MoU was signed by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Hanif Atmar in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

However, it does not mean the final word has been said on the dam. The US$250 million Shatoot Dam project has been pending for two years following objections from Pakistan as it fears impediment to the regular flow of water.

Last November, Jaishankar had announced an agreement with Afghanistan for building the Shatoot Dam was close at hand, while speaking at an international conference on Afghanistan.

In tandem, India will launch the fourth phase of the high impact community development projects in Afghanistan involving over 100 projects. This is the second major dam being built by India in Afghanistan, after the India- Afghanistan Friendship Dam (Salma Dam).