According to residents of Herat, Farah, and Badghis provinces, severe rainfall and devastating floods have resulted in a loss of life and significant financial damage to the people in these provinces. They continue to accuse the Taliban of incompetence and lack of necessary capability in dealing with natural disasters, alleging discriminatory and selective behavior towards the affected individuals.
Initial statistics indicate that the recent severe rainfall and flooding in the past few days have claimed at least 12 lives in the provinces of Farah, Herat, and Badghis. Based on reports from locals, dozens of cattle have perished, and scores of residential homes and hundreds of acres of agricultural land, including orchards, have been destroyed.
Residents of various districts including Pashtun Zarghun, Obe, Chishti Sharif, Karukh, Guzara, Farsi, Zawol, Pusht-e-Koh, and Adraskan in Herat report that floods in these districts have destroyed at least 190 residential homes and 2,000 acres of cultivated land, while thousands of productive and non-productive trees have been wiped out, and over 100 cattle have been lost.
Mohammad Siddiq, a resident of Chishti Sharif district in Herat province, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “Years of our hard work have been washed away. We had an orchard where we had been nurturing trees for several years, and just as they were about to bear fruit after a year, the flood came and took away all the trees, both productive and non-productive, and two or three houses collapsed as the water poured into our village.”
Sharif Ahmad, a resident of the Pashtun Zarghun district in Herat, says that floods have destroyed his agricultural lands. He told the Hasht-e Subh Daily, “Our entire hope was in these 7 acres of land that I had cultivated, hoping for a good year and better yields, but now the flood has swept away all seven acres. Whatever was planted is now under mud and debris. Both the crops and the water reservoir we had, along with the irrigation canal, have been destroyed.”
The flooding has also affected residents of Farah province. Statistics obtained by the Hasht-e Subh Daily show that over the past four days, floods have claimed the lives of six individuals in the Pusht Rod, Pur Chaman, and the provincial capital districts, destroying nearly 10,000 acres of land. According to these statistics, 150 residential homes have been demolished, at least 3,000 solar panels have been washed away, and 300 cattle have perished.
Mohiuddin, a resident of Farah province, expresses how this year’s heavy rains, instead of bringing relief from drought as hoped for after years of anticipation, have turned into a disaster for them. He recalls their initial joy at the heavy rainfall, believing it would bring prosperity. However, the reality is grim: 30 acres of cultivated land lay destroyed, crops buried under mud, 10 solar panels swept away, houses collapsed, and all they possessed succumbed to the floodwaters.
Taliban officials in Farah province also acknowledge that floods have caused significant financial losses to the province’s residents and are working to assist the affected individuals through collaborative efforts with relief organizations in this province.
Furthermore, the recent heavy rainfall and floods have not only claimed the lives of four individuals, including a woman with her two children but have also destroyed approximately 1,000 acres of agricultural land along with orchards and nearly 85 residential homes in the districts of Badghis province.
Abdul Basir, a resident of the Qades district, told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that all his belongings had been washed away in the recent floods. He added, “We had an orchard with hundreds of fruitful trees, but they were all swept away by the flood, uprooted, and taken away. We had cultivated five to six acres of land, hoping for a good year, but it all vanished in the flood. For us, the essence of life lies in farming and agriculture, and this year, we have lost everything.”
However, the Taliban-controlled Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority states that at least 70 people have lost their lives, and 56 others have been injured as a result of the recent heavy rainfall and flooding across the country.
The authority further adds that over 95,000 acres of agricultural land and 25,000 residential homes have been destroyed either partially or completely due to the flooding. According to the ministry, over 2,000 livestock have also perished as a result of the floods in various provinces of Afghanistan.
It’s worth mentioning that some residents of the flood-affected provinces accuse the Taliban of incompetence and negligence in dealing with natural disasters. According to them, the group lacks the capability and necessary knowledge to handle such situations and discriminates against and selectively treats the affected individuals.