Afghanistan's capital is in the grip of a water crisis

Afghanistan Kabul Water Crisis - (Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

The woman was furious. Standing in the muddy lane sloping up the hill in one of the Afghan capital’s poorer neighborhoods, she pulled her headscarf aside to reveal thick grey-white hair.

“You see this hair? Even I with my white hair, I have to carry water,” said Marofa, 52, a resident of Kabul’s Deh Mazang neighborhood who, like many Afghans, goes by one name. “These containers are heavy. We have no strength left in our backs, no strength left in our legs.”