BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — For the first time since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Afghanistan on Monday sent a delegation to the United Nations climate talks in a bid to garner help in dealing with global warming. Matuil Haq Khalis, who’s head of the country’s environment protection agency, told The Associated Press that Afghanistan needs international support to deal with extreme weather like erratic rainfall, prolonged droughts and flash floods. “All the countries must join hands and tackle the problem of climate change,” said Khalis, speaking through a translator at the talks, taking place this year in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Afghanistan has been hard hit by climate change, with . In March, northern Afghanistan experienced heavy rains resulting in flash floods, . Climate scientists have found that extreme rainfall has gotten 25% heavier over the last 40 years in the country.
Khalis said Afghanistan has prepared national action plans to deal with climate change and will be updating its climate goals within the next few months. He said the country has great potential for wind and solar power but needs international to develop it. He added that the Afghan delegation was grateful to the Azerbaijani government for inviting them.
The delegation will have an observer status at the talks, as the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan. Joanna Depledge, a climate historian at the University of Cambridge in England, said Afghanistan should be able to attend. “By virtue .