Barren Fields and Empty Stomachs: Afghanistan’s Long, Punishing Drought

They awake in the mornings to find another family has left. Half of one village, the entirety of the next have departed in the years since the water dried up — in search of jobs, of food, of any means of survival. Those who remain pick apart the abandoned homes and burn the bits for firewood.They speak of the lushness that once blessed this corner of southwestern Afghanistan. Now, it’s parched as far as the eye…