air pollution is a big problem in the modern world . the following picture shows the earth coughing because of exposure to excessive amounts of smoke . write an article in about 120words for your school magazine based on the following picture.

The problem of air pollution is very much rampant in the urban areas of the country; especially Kabul city has been suffering because of this menace to a worrying extent. The air in Kabul has been announced as highly dangerous for people both by national and international authorities. National Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA) considers Kabul's air vulnerable and fears that it can cause eyes, lungs and skin diseases, including cancer.

NEPA has even suggested that the use of masks should be made frequent in order to be secure from the contaminations mostly exhausted by vehicles. Kabul city is dominantly marked with the flow of a congested traffic mostly including various types of cars. Most of these cars are not registered and do not have to pass any maintenance test or quality checkup before they get within the traffic. Further, the fuel used by these cars is not of high quality. Most of the times, the fuel doesn't come from the petrol stations rather they are provided by the suppliers on the road sides and small shops where the petrol and diesel are kept in water buckets and tanks. They do not go through any process of purification and contain large number of harmful particle including lead.

Most of the vehicles running on the roads use the same type of fuel as there is no system of check and balance by the traffic police. According to estimations made by NEPA, about 75% of air pollution is from emission by various vehicles and about 3,000 deaths occur per year as a result of air pollution.

Most of the green areas of the city have not been cared for and they are becoming a part of residential and commercial buildings with the sacrifice of greenery. NEPA has also made the claim that land mafia is in the front row for carrying on such activities. The only thing they care for is a large sum of money they can earn in return for the land, not its proper and legitimate use so that it should be beneficial for environment at the same time. A part from the fact that there is rampant deforestation, there is no special program or plan for growing trees in the areas that are at least outside the residential and commercial areas.

The issue of environmental pollution should be dealt appropriately both by people and government of Afghanistan before it is too late. Any program regarding environmental protection should be two-fold. First, the government must introduce laws and the mechanism to enforce them. Since, the introduction of nation's first environmental law in 2005, no remarkable development has been made in chalking out the mechanism to enforce them. Laws, unless implemented, are of no use. Severe penalties should be charged against those who choose for irresponsible behavior regarding the protection of environment publically. Traffic system along with the facilities to have proper check and balance system against the dangerous emissions by vehicles should be put in action.

Low-grade fuel should be banned all together. And extensive growth of trees should be made possible immediately. Second, concerned authorities must carry out thorough awareness programs, which should penetrate among the residents of the country, so that they should be fully aware of the actions they carryout in deteriorating the environment. Workshops, Advertisements, Debates, Lectures and other techniques for furthering awareness campaigns must be carried out by NEPA, especially in the urban areas of the country. Further, environmental awareness literature can be included in the syllabus of the students so that they from the very beginning of their lives should adopt a very responsible way of life. Environment is a collective and natural property of all the living beings and it must be protected collectively.