KABUL, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) has expressed concern over the air pollution increase here, a local television channel Tolonews reported Sunday.
Air pollution in Kabul has tripled over the past week and become very difficult to reduce due to a lack of adequate equipment, the private media outlet quoted NEPA's inspection control officer Basir Amin as saying.
"The statistics we have collected over the last two or three days, especially about dust and airborne particles with a diameter of 2.5 cubic meters relatively, show that pollution has increased beyond the standard air quality of the World Health Organization," the official said, according to Tolonews.
Climate changes, drought emanated from low precipitation and reduced snowfall, frequency of floods due to heavy and uneven rainfall, as well as airborne particles are the elements that contribute to environmental pollution in the Afghan capital and some of the land-locked country's major cities, according to the report. ■
