Afghans suffer from heavy air pollution
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Air pollution in Afghan big cities particularly the capital city Kabul has reached alarming point as head of National Environment Directorate, Mustafa warned last Sunday of dire consequences if air pollution is not checked.
"Living condition would become impossible within the next seven years if the status quo of air pollution continues in Kabul and other major towns," Zahir said at a seminar, adding many people would migrate from capital city to other places due to heavy pollution.
Battered streets, roaming old and used cars, lack of adequate sewerage and poor sanitation have largely contributed to the pollution in Kabul and sister cities in the war-wrecked Afghanistan.
Often thick ply of dust consisting of carbon dioxide, sulfur and other hazardous chemical elements are seen covering Kabul sky instead of cloud.
"I will be delighted to see blue sky and light clouds over Kabul city like past years when Afghanistan was peaceful and green, blossoming gardens and fragrant landscape," a resident of Afghan capital Kabul, 55-year Bashir said.
Bashir who like many Afghans goes only by one name said his country is not an industrialized nation to have so many plants and factories to pollute the environment.
Meantime, he was of the view that mismanagement of authorities and poor awareness of citizens are the main cause of pollution in Kabul and other cities at large.
He said that in some cases the public bath owners burn tires and other chemical items to heat water, while others have constructed plants and brick kilns on the outskirts of the city which eventually damage the environment.
Pollution in Kabul can be gauged from here that Afghan Public Health Ministry in a report released last year said that "the blood of 80 percent of each 200 Kabul residents is contaminated with lead."
Recovering from war aftermath with construction of modern buildings and mud houses around, Kabul is surrounded by dry hilltops, although the landscape is beautiful.
The polluted air may lead directly to an estimated 3,000 deaths annually just in the capital Kabul where the sanitation system is very poor and hundreds of tons of garbage is produced daily, according to the Afghan Health Ministry.
The head of Environment Directorate Mustafa Zahir also said that 68 percent of Kabul's underground water is contaminated.
The Afghanistan National Environmental Directorate as a government body has been committed to safeguarding environment and checking pollution in the country, deputy to the body Abbas Basir told Xinhua in an interview.
"Concrete action has been taken to keep the environment clean and in this regard the government would protect the forest and wooded areas especially in eastern part of the country," Basir added.
To protect environment and control air pollution, the government has ratified a law nearly five years ago and put it into effect, Basir said, but adding law enforcement is unfortunately weak in the country.
The post-Taliban country has also lost 80 percent of green coverage and 60 percent of forest over the past three decades of war, according to Basir. "In line with government's greenery plan, 30 percent of the country's soil will be covered with forest and preserved until 2030," he said.
"More than one million vehicles have been registered in big cities around the country and besides these, over 400,000 automobiles, mostly used ones including cars, buses and trucks owned by civilians, army, police and foreigners are roaming in Kabul," Basir said.
"I sell saplings to earn money on one hand, and on the other, contribute to afforestation and keeping the environment green which indeed alleviates air pollution in Kabul," an old man named Karim said, adding that environmental protection is also a mission every citizen should carry on.
