After a long dry spell last autumn and winter, Afghanistan and its neighboring Middle East countries have been witnessing unusually heavy rains and snowfall this year. In recent news, about 35 people are presumed dead from flooding in Afghanistan.
This comes less than a few weeks after the United Arab Emirates and Oman were flooded. According to the Emirati National Center for Meteorology, this April’s rain was the heaviest rainfall recorded in 75 years. Mid-April, more than a year’s worth of rain fell in a day on the Arabian Peninsula, one of the world’s driest regions.
Some suggest that ongoing experiments in cloud seeding is the reason for the freak weather. Others note that it’s a bigger experiment than that: human-made climate change.
From April 14 to 15 this year, the United Arab Emirates and northern parts of Oman say the rainfall accounted for at least 20 fatalities in Oman and four in the UAE.
Israel also clocked the hottest temperatures on record in April, at 40 degrees C beating a 30-year record. According to research from the University of Roehampton in England, the human body may lose the ability to rid of excessive heat and stop functioning optimally when outside temperatures reach beyond 40 degrees Celsius (104 F).
Afghanistan, run by the Taliban, is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change. As climate change affects water, farming, food –– we will see more unrest and terror –– exactly what happened in Syria during its civil war period. About 580,000 people died in Syria as a result of water insecurity, food insecurity, with millions more as displaced as refugees in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Europe and Canada.
Syrians are currently under the thumb of a cruel dictator Basher Al-Assad and his British-born private-school educated wife Asma Al-Assad. The Syrian economy runs on drug money.
Why Afghanistan is especially vulnerable to climate change
- Water Scarcity: Afghanistan heavily relies on snowmelt and rainfall for its water supply, particularly for irrigation in agriculture, which sustains the livelihoods of a significant portion of the population. However, changing precipitation patterns and the melting of glaciers due to rising temperatures are leading to reduced water availability, exacerbating existing water scarcity issues.
- Droughts and Floods: Erratic rainfall patterns have intensified the frequency and severity of droughts and floods in Afghanistan. Prolonged droughts devastate agricultural output, exacerbate food insecurity, and drive rural communities into poverty. Intense rainfall events trigger flash floods, destroying infrastructure, homes, and crops, and displacing thousands of people annually.
- Displacement and Conflict: The intersection of climate change impacts with existing socio-political challenges further compounds Afghanistan’s vulnerability. Displacement driven by climate-induced disasters strains already fragile social systems, exacerbates resource competition, and can fuel conflict over dwindling water and arable land, perpetuating a cycle of instability and insecurity.
If we don’t want to see more mass migrations from the Middle East to Europe and North America, we as people of the world need to help find solutions to those in vulnerable, dry lands in the Middle East and Africa. People will have no choice but to flee to cooler, more prosperous lands.
