"Like everyone else, I am concerned that all of the efforts in the fields of education, reconstruction, and rehabilitation that have been made possible at the expense of thousands of lives will be dragged to nothing. So we want to reach and educate our people everywhere in the world so we stay connected and be prepared for future challenges".
ZEF senior researcher Fazlullah Akhtar.
Rays of hope: Online exile open university for Afghan students
ZEF senior research Fazlullah Akhtar has received a Philipp Schwartz Scholarship for 'researchers at risk' which is awarded by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (based in Germany). In addition to pursuing his research on water management issues in Afghanistan, he is working with a group of Afghan and German colleagues together with the World University Service (Germany) on setting up an online university for Afghan students living in exile and in Afghanistan. Read more here.
Afghan scientists in exile are not waiting for opportunities. They want to create them.
Research
Fazlullah Akhtar has conducted his doctoral research (2013-2017) on the topic water availability and demand analysis in the Kabul river basin in Afghanistan. He obtained his doctoral degree from the University of Bonn's Agricultural Faculty in 2017.
In an article in ZEF news about his doctoral field research conducted in Afghanistan he wrote:
Whereas Afghanistan is in urgent need for updating and refining the planning and management of its water resources, hydro-meteorological data are very scarce in the war-torn country. So data scarcity poses the main problem for carrying out hydrological modeling in Afghanistan. In this doctoral research carried out at ZEF Fazl used the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and remote sensing techniques to cope with this challenge and to evaluate the water availability in the data-scarce Kabul River Basin of Afghanistan. Climate data (i.e. wind, relative humidity, and solar radiation) was retrieved from the Climate Forecast System Reanalysis of the National Centers for Environmental Prediction while the precipitation data were collected from various meteorological stations installed across the Kabul River Basin [read full article in ZEF news here - page 11].
Agriculture plays a crucial role in Afghanistan’s economy, although only 12% of the country’s land area is arabable. Yet, the agricultural sector engages around 66% of the country’s workforce and consumes around 98% of the overall water withdrawal.
Around 46% of the total arable area is equipped with irrigation infrastructure. For more than three decades, the country has suffered from war and political turmoil. Their aftermaths have inflicted huge damage upon urban and rural infrastructure, for example on the hydraulic system.
This has led to huge water losses and it continues to hinder effective water management of irrigation schemes and watersheds. The pressure on water resources is particulalirly high as food production mainly depends on irrigated agriculture.
How does the future of science in Afghanistan look like?
"Another concern is the major brain-drain out of the country presently taking place. Many educated and trained Afghans are leaving because they are afraid of the new rulers. The scientific and academic community in Afghanistan is completely shocked after the country was suddenly taken over by Taliban. They fear the situation might get worse for them, especially because the extremists do not believe in the principles of science".
Read full interview with Fazlullah Akhtar from August 2021 here.
One of the problems Afghanistan has been facing for decades (because of the multiple armed conflicts since the Russian invasion in 1979) with regard to the planning and management of natural resources is the collecting and processing of data.
The international community including Germany have spent a lot of resources for the reconstruction of Afghanistan over the past two decades. These funds have been used for building infrastructure, universities, schools, and colleges, vocational training as well as for institutional, and human capacity building. Substantial achievements have been made during this time.
Many scientists, engineers and academics are now searching for options to leave the country as soon as possible. Though they do hope to be able to return to Afghanistan in better times and thus to contribute to (re-)shaping their country.
From 189 countries ranked in the latest Human Development Index (2020) of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Afghanistan is listed on position 169.
According to the UNDP's Human Development Index the mean years of schooling for Afghan children is 3.9 years.
In addition, poverty and food insecurity are expected to increase in the immediate future.
All photos in this post were taken in Afghanistan by Fazlullah Akhtar.
Production: ZEF PR. Contact: presse.zef@uni-bonn.de