Project officials have written to the authorities asking for the deployment of at least 100 Afghan National Army personnel instead of the local police.

The security in-charge of the project, called the project commander, Syed Gulbuddin Khan, is in fact a part of the dilemma that Indian officials face.

'He is fighting a war of supremacy with another local warlord. Therefore, his forces, who are guarding us, also take part in the fighting,' another senior official told IANS.

Indian officials however cannot antagonise Khan who has been looking after the security since the project started. 'We have maintained good relations with him and he has promised to protect us till the last drop of blood in his body. But the fighting does come disconcertingly close due to his involvement,' he added.

'I remember working at one in the night while hearing gunshots in the background,' said the official.

Another key concern is the 160-kilometre road that connects the construction site with Herat city - it's the only conduit for transporting supplies, equipment and manpower. 'It is a kaccha road with non-existent security. Whenever we travel, we have a convoy of at least two cars with 8-10 local security personnel,' he said.

In fact, a senior Wapcos official had a close brush with a kidnapping attempt on this road a couple of months ago.

While the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been deployed at certain Indian installations in Afghanistan, they have not been posted at the dam site, so as not to attract 'unwanted attention'.

'We have very good relations with local Afghans. We were advised that if Indian security personnel were posted here, then their presence could be used by anti-Indian forces to divert attention and target us. Right now, we are not part of the problem, we just come in the crossfire sometimes,' explained the senior official.

Afghan authorities have assured security for the dam site.

Another challenge of the project has been the extreme weather conditions. 'We have gone through two floods, then last year we had record snowfall. So far, we have had a cloudburst which has made the road very difficult to navigate,' he said.

(Devirupa Mitra can be contacted at devirupa.m@ians.in)