UN: US Military Waste Contaminated 40% of Kabul’s Water Supply

DID Press: Four years after the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, UN has revealed what it calls an environmental disaster unfolding in the country.

According to a new UN report, the consequences of the US two-decade military presence in Afghanistan extend beyond human losses, leaving behind severe and lasting ecological damage.

Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, said toxic waste left by the U.S. military has rendered 40% of Kabul’s groundwater undrinkable.

Before the U.S. military’s arrival, Afghanistan generated around 50 tons of military waste per day, the report noted. That figure rose to more than 400 tons daily during the height of the U.S. deployment.

At Bagram Air Base alone, nearly 120 tons of waste were burned every day, with toxic ash buried nearby — a practice that, according to the UN, contaminated soil and water within a 20-kilometer radius.

A U.S. government inspection report also confirmed that over 700,000 tons of military and industrial waste accumulated during the 20-year mission, polluting roughly 5,000 square kilometers of Afghanistan territory.

UN warned more than 8 million Afghanistan people now live in unhealthy and contaminated environments, with rising cases of respiratory illnesses, skin diseases, and cancer reported in areas surrounding former U.S. military bases.