The dam was inaugurated on 4 June 2016 by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with former Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

[10][11] Indian public sector power equipment manufacturer BHEL played an instrumental role in the execution of the project by successfully commissioning two 14MW units for the dam.

[4] When the governor of Chishti Sharif District, Abdulqudus Qayam, was killed along with five security officials in mid-January 2010, the Afghan media called it an insurgent attack.

[4] In March 2013, the then-National Directorate of Security (NDS) claimed that Taliban's Quetta Shura attempted to blow up the Salma Dam with 1,300 kg (2,900 lb) of explosives.

According to NDS spokesman Shafiqullah Tahiri, "Mullah Abdul Ghani, a member of the Quetta Shura who plans suicide attacks, was behind the conspiracy".