environment

Changing climate parches Afghanistan, exacerbating poverty

7 Comments
By ELENA BECATOROS

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7 Comments
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And yet the Taliban, ISIS-K and other fanatical fools are fighting over power in that land. Pathetic and sad.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Why are they not able to implement irrigation and agricultural methods as the rest of the world has managed to invent by themselves?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Not even selling two wifes for a camel (the current going price, I checked) will help some families. Should have fought better to protect their own country from the Taliban, not indirectly support them.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Let the country rot. The domestic moderates are not willing to purge their extremist or be annexed by stronger governments. Their pride in being unconquerable is this result. I hope Afghanistan enjoys the bed they made. They earned it.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Let the country rot. The domestic moderates are not willing to purge their extremist or be annexed by stronger governments.

Afghanistan is more a nation of tribes than a unified group of people. Their culture isn't one that has a common grouping of domestic moderates that could rise up against extremist or stronger governments.

Their pride in being unconquerable is this result.

Different people. Most of them are civilians trying to live a pious life and eat. Then there are extremists. The former, who are greater in number, suffer under the latter.

I hope Afghanistan enjoys the bed they made. They earned it.

Very blanket statement ignoring the nuances of reality whereby not everyone is evil.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

So if most people only live for their life and their tribe’s and if every tribe thinks like that, only the extremists can unify. It just so happens that the extremist that chooses to unify the country happen to be a dogmatic religiously focused regime. This situation is earned so let the country rot till it’s ready for a better life.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Why are they not able to implement irrigation and agricultural methods as the rest of the world has managed to invent by themselves?

Sigh. Find out what a Kariz is. It is also called the Qanat in North Africa. In many ways Iran and Afghanistan developed one of the most advanced irrigation systems that dates back more than 2000 years. The ancient Persians figured out that as the land rose from the plains to the foothills, so did the water table. Instead of drilling vertical wells and hauling water upward, they tunneled into the hills horizontally until they hit the water table. The tunnels extended underground for many tens of miles after leaving the mountains. There are vertical air shafts from the tunnels to the surface. Homes situated along a Kariz would have an underground room with a vent in a wall opening into one of the air vents for the Kariz creating a room that was cool in the worst summer heat. During winters a beehive looking structure would be filled with ice. The structure was vented to a Kariz below. The Persians could keep foods and other items frozen all through the summer due to the cooling effect of the Kariz below. Towns would be built close to the foothills where the water was purist and after passing through the town the water would irrigate fields on the plains below. It is a very efficient system.

The problem is that decades of war have allowed the Kariz to fall apart. I recall early after the US invasion of Afghanistan US Aid did some restoration work on existing Kariz but that apparently has been left to slide. Declining water tables might require digging further into hills to find water, but the beauty of the Kariz or Qanat is that it is all accomplished by gravity flow. The drawback is the tunnels have to be maintained constantly so they don't silt up. But digging conventional wells requires power to pump water up where the Kariz does not.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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