Will Kabul Become the World’s First Waterless Capital?
(Translated)

News:

The head of Afghanistan’s National Environmental Protection Agency, Mawlawi Matiul Haq Khalis, has called for Afghanistan’s formal participation in the COP30 summit in Brazil. He emphasized that Afghanistan must no longer remain an observer, and that it has the right to actively participate in these conferences and raise its voice regarding the consequences of climate change. He stressed that the country is facing drought, water scarcity, sudden floods, and a reduction in cultivable land.

Comment:

A recent report by Mercy Corps warns that Kabul may become the first modern capital in the world to face a full-scale water crisis. This crisis has been intensified by a combination of factors, including climate change, poor water resource management, rapid population growth, and urbanization.

Afghanistan is experiencing severe drought, which has led to the destruction of water resources, migration of rural populations, and desertification in more than 75% of Afghanistan’s land. This environmental crisis has placed millions of people at risk of hunger, malnutrition, and famine, severely threatening their livelihoods. As a result of these climate changes, we have also witnessed severe flooding in the eastern and northeastern provinces of Afghanistan, as well as in areas beyond the Durand Line — floods that have brought heart-wrenching images of family deaths and widespread destruction.

One of the fundamental problems with international environmental structures, including the United Nations, COP30, and institutions like the UNFCCC, is that while they present the appearance of global cooperation, they are in reality dominated by the interests of major powers and the capitalist system. These powers — particularly the United States, China, and industrialized countries — are the world’s biggest polluters and the main drivers of climate change, yet they show the least commitment to fulfilling their climate promises and financing climate justice. The U.S.'s political withdrawal from and return to the Paris Agreement, and its failure to uphold financial commitments, are examples of this structural instability.

In addition, the root causes of climate change stem from the ideological and economic foundations of capitalism — a system that prioritizes material value over spiritual, human, and moral values. Excessive use of fossil fuels, relentless exploitation of natural resources, deforestation, and extreme consumerism all originate from this worldview. This systematic corruption is what Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, describes in the Noble Qur'an:

[ظَهَرَ الْفَسَادُ فِي الْبَرِّ وَالْبَحْرِ بِمَا كَسَبَتْ أَيْدِي النَّاسِ]

“Corruption has appeared on land and sea because of what the hands of people have earned.” [Surah Ar-Rum, 30:41].

On the other hand, the position of the Afghan government in terms of domestic policy regarding these issues and institution-building to respond to natural disasters is unsatisfactory. A deeper problem is that the Taliban claim to be neutral in foreign policy, whereas such a stance is neither sufficient, nor religiously or rationally justified in facing this complex global reality. Neutrality in the face of a corrupt system that dominates the world politically, economically, culturally, and even environmentally, is neither possible nor effective. While Afghanistan is neutral in greenhouse gas emissions and has no share in causing them, it is one of the ten countries most affected by climate change.

The world is not neutral in causing harm to us. According to a report by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), Afghanistan is among the top 10 countries most affected by natural disasters and climate change, including drought, floods, earthquakes, and storms. According to the INFORM Risk Index 2023, Afghanistan ranks fourth, and in the University of Notre Dame’s Global Adaptation Index, it ranks eighth — even though the country contributes very little to greenhouse gas emissions.

Therefore, the core problem at the global level lies in a deeply rooted and corrupt system that has penetrated every aspect of life and even shaped people’s mentality and way of living. Integration or inclusion within this structure is not the solution to the crisis; rather, it is a reproduction of the same crisis in a weaker and more subservient form.

The real solution to this crisis lies in turning to Islamic solutions and establishing a Khilafah Rashidah (rightly guided Caliphate) upon the Prophetic methodology. Only by returning to the divine system and implementing Islamic rulings at the level of governance can the corrupt global system be challenged, and humanity, society, and nature be restored to their innate state. Otherwise, humanity will remain caught in a futile cycle, dependent on capitalist structures, with no real path to salvation for people or the planet.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by
Yosuf Arsalan
Member of the Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir in Wilayah Afghanistan