Taliban’s Approach to Natural Disasters

Jul 3, 2024 | Pupsa Kumari, Mahonar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
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Climate change is one of the most important challenges in the 21st century and has unfavourable consequences, including droughts, floods, storms, decrease in rainfall, landslides, rise in temperature, premature melting of natural glaciers, etc.1 Despite contributing the least to climate change, Afghanistan remains the sixth most vulnerable country to be affected by climate change. The country has been witnessing erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts, flash floods and earthquakes, wreaking havoc on agricultural productivity and thereby severely affecting local livelihoods.2

In the latest episode, floods hit the Faryab province in May 2024, killing over 66 people, damaging more than 1,500 houses and swamping over 400 hectares of land. Earlier, severe floods have hit Baghlan, Ghor, Badakhshan and Herat resulting in significant human casualties and financial losses. Baghlan province, in particular, recorded the highest number of casualties and widespread destruction, with at least 300 people killed and several hundreds injured.3