America’s War in Afghanistan Devastated the Country’s Environment in Ways That May Never Be Cleaned Up
Afghans who lived near America’s vast bases say the U.S. military's lack of even minimal environmental protections polluted their land, poisoned their water and sickened their children. The consequences of the contamination may last for generations.
By Lynzy Billing
Inside Climate News
September 25, 2023
Birds dip between low branches that hang over glittering brooks along the drive from Jalalabad heading south toward the Achin district of Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province. Then, the landscape changes, as lush fields give way to barren land.
Up ahead, Achin is located among a rise of rocky mountains that line the border with Pakistan, a region pounded by American bombs since the beginning of the war.
Laborers line the roadside, dusted with the white talc they have carried down from the mountains. A gritty wind stings their chapped cheeks as they load the heavy trucks beside them. In these parts of Achin, nothing else moves in the bleached landscape. For years, locals say this harsh terrain has been haunted by a deadly, hidden hazard: chemical contamination.
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For the entire article, see
https://insideclimatenews.org/news/25092023/war-in-afghanistan-devastated-the-countrys-environment
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Lenny Siegel Executive Director Center for Public Environmental Oversight A project of the Pacific Studies Center LSiegel@cpeo.orgP.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042 Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918 http://www.cpeo.org Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)
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