Deadly issue

The world is facing a serious issue of climate change, and it is the need of the hour to take concrete efforts to address climate change together for the betterment of the whole world (“Kabul air pollution may be even deadlier than war,” Nov.17, Gulf Today).  Now, slowly air pollution is gripping the world, after India and Pakistan now people in Afghanistan are being victims of air pollution.

Yousuf fled with his family from his home in eastern Afghanistan eight years ago to escape the war, but he couldn’t escape tragedy. In the capital, Kabul, five of his children died, not from violence or bombings, but from air pollution, worsened by bitter cold and poverty.

At the camp for displaced people they live in, they and other families keep warm and cook by burning the garbage that surrounds them. One by one over the years, each of the children got chest infections and other maladies from the pollution and never made it to age seven, he told the media. The 60-year-old has nine surviving children.

The world should work together and address the serious problem of climate change and take necessary steps to keep the environment clean.

Shoukat Khan

By email