Rising Heat in Kabul Exacerbates Air Pollution and Health Issues

Residents of the capital told TOLOnews that air pollution in recent days has posed challenges for them.

“Recently, the weather has become very hot, and air pollution has also increased significantly. The reason might be the old cars, whose numbers have increased compared to the past,” Mohammad Haroon, a resident of the capital, told TOLOnews.

“The use of old cars with low-quality fuel, and also due to frequent power outages, people are using generators, all of which have polluted the air,” said Bilal, another resident of Kabul.

Meanwhile, officials at the National Environmental Protection Agency have said that the main factors of air pollution in Kabul city are worn-out vehicles and the production of electricity. This agency, in coordination with the General Directorate of Traffic and Kabul Municipality, is working on reducing air pollution.

Toofan Jebran, the head of air pollution control and waste management at the National Environmental Protection Agency, said: “The Kabul Traffic Department observes their checkpoints once a month, and the documents of cars that produce smoke are registered so that their problems can be resolved.”

Air pollution in Kabul has various causes and has become a challenge for the residents of the capital.

Some environmental experts believe that increasing green areas and controlling large production factories can lead to an improvement in the air quality in Kabul city.

“There was a green belt in Kabul, and efforts were made to maintain it to some extent, but it is not clear whether it has continued or if it has been irrigated. If the green belt of Kabul and other major cities is revived, this problem will be reduced,” Najibullah Sadeq, an environmental expert, told TOLOnews.

This comes after the National Environmental Protection Agency previously criticized the halt of 32 projects in the field of climate change in the country and emphasized the resumption of these projects.