For villagers like Nik Mohammad and Saduddin, the path forward is fraught with uncertainty. Repeated displacement, crop failures, and the unrelenting threat of natural disasters leave little room for hope.
In Khak-e Darwish, a parched village in the western province of Badghis, Afghanistan, desperation has become a way of life. Once a thriving home to over 250 families, the village now stands nearly deserted. Severe droughts have stripped the land of its vitality, forcing 70 families to abandon their homes in search of survival elsewhere. For those who remain, like 45-year-old Saduddin, leaving feels inevitable.
“The rest of the families currently living in this village will leave if the drought continues,” he says. In the absence of water and livelihoods, desperation has driven some residents to sell their kidneys to pay debts. “Ten people, including two women, have had to sell their kidneys. The rate of poverty is very high in the village,” he adds grimly.
This is not just the story of Khak-e Darwish; it is the reality for millions of Afghans caught in the unrelenting grip of climate change. Decades of conflict and environmental neglect have made Afghanistan one of the world’s most vulnerable countries to the impacts of rising temperatures.
A Nation on the Brink
Afghanistan contributes little to global greenhouse gas emissions, yet its average temperature has risen 1.8 degrees Celsius since 1950—higher than the global average of 1.5 degrees. The consequences have been catastrophic: more frequent droughts, devastating floods, and deadly landslides.
Around 80 per cent of Afghanistan’s 40 million people depend on natural resources for their livelihoods. Agriculture forms the backbone of the country’s economy, but rising temperatures have wreaked havoc on the sector. Flash floods, like the one that destroyed Saduddin’s wheat crop in 2023, are becoming more common, wiping out entire harvests.
For residents of Badghis, water scarcity compounds the crisis. Three decades ago, villagers could dig 12 meters to access groundwater; today, they must dig over 80 meters. The lone water well in Khak-e Darwish serves 180 families, who wait in long queues daily for their turn.
“We need water more than bread,” Saduddin says, highlighting the dire need for basic resources.
A Cycle of Despair
In the provincial capital of Qala-e Naw, 65-year-old Nik Mohammad is all too familiar with the hardship wrought by Afghanistan’s changing climate. Droughts forced his family to leave their home in Qadis district and live in an informal settlement for three years. Evicted in 2022, he returned to his village, only to find the situation unchanged.
“I borrowed money to cultivate peas and cumin, hoping for a good harvest. But the lack of timely rainfall meant I lost everything,” he says, now burdened with a debt of 40,000 Afghanis (about $600). With no other options, he sent one of his sons abroad to work, but the young man was deported due to a lack of legal documentation.
“I have no other option than to leave again, but I don’t have the money needed to transport my family,” he laments.
The Unrelenting Waters
Afghanistan’s drought-stricken landscapes are punctuated by sudden, devastating floods. In May 2024, an unprecedented hailstorm struck Qadis district, triggering flash floods that reached depths of five meters. Ghulam Nabi, a resident, recounts how his family fled to the hills to escape the rising waters.
“I lost almost all of my belongings, including carpets, furniture, and my animals—a cow and six sheep,” he says. The flood claimed one life, destroyed 720 homes, and decimated 150 gardens in the area. Nearly 200 families were forced to relocate to other villages or Herat province.
“Floods like these were unheard of in our area,” Ghulam Nabi says, underscoring the increasing unpredictability of Afghanistan’s climate.
A Crisis Exacerbated
The collapse of Afghanistan’s Western-backed government in 2021 and the Taliban’s rise to power have further complicated the country’s ability to address its climate challenges. International donors halted billions in development aid, while humanitarian assistance has dwindled, largely due to concerns over the Taliban’s human rights record.
At the annual UN climate conference in Baku, a Taliban delegation participated as observers. However, Afghanistan’s unrecognized government faces little hope of securing the international aid necessary to adapt to and mitigate climate change’s effects.
Meanwhile, organizations like UNICEF report that eight out of ten Afghans lack access to safe drinking water. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) warns that climate change is increasingly driving displacement, with many Afghans migrating internally or fleeing the country.
A Call for Help
For villagers like Nik Mohammad and Saduddin, the path forward is fraught with uncertainty. Repeated displacement, crop failures, and the unrelenting threat of natural disasters leave little room for hope.
“Help us with food and water so that we do not become displaced again,” Nik Mohammad pleads to the international community.
But hope remains elusive for many. With every missed rainfall and each flood’s devastation, the threads holding communities together fray further. Without urgent action, the stories of Khak-e Darwish and Qadis could become the fate of countless villages across Afghanistan.
As the world gathers at conferences like COP29, Afghanistan’s plight serves as a stark reminder of the disproportionate impact climate change has on vulnerable nations. For millions of Afghans, the stakes are not abstract—they are a matter of survival.
