Environmental impacts of war in Afghanistan
The ongoing environmental impacts of war in Afghanistan, from the 1979 beginning of the Soviet-Afghan War to the 2021 United States' withdrawal from Afghanistan, adversely affect the health of Afghan civilians and American veterans, infrastructure, the labour force, and social structures. Environmental impacts involve but are not limited to the open-air burn pits of the United States Department of Defense (DoD) and the degradation of traditional irrigation systems. The burn pits produced hazardous emissions inconclusively linked to later appearances of chronic and sometimes fatal illness. Irrigation impacts—significant due to the dryness of the land—have been catalyzed by military activity and the societal effects of conflict; they have contributed to the rise of Afghan opium production.
Open-air burn pit at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Paktika, Afghanistan, in 2013
A collapsed karez on Shindand Air Base, Herat, Afghanistan, in 2010
Farmers cultivating a field of poppies south of Forward Operating Base Shir Ghazi, Helmand, Afghanistan, in 2012
Environmental issues in Afghanistan
Environmental issues in Afghanistan are monitored by the National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA). They predate the political turmoil of the past few decades. Forests have been depleted by centuries of grazing and farming, practices which have only increased with modern population growth.
Qalat, Zabul Province in 2010
U.S. Army soldiers observing illegal timber smuggling in 2009, which has been commonly done through the Narang Valley of Kunar Province into neighboring Pakistan.
U.S. marines outside the Citadel of Alexander the Great near the city of Farah in 2004.
Snow leopard