Undark: America’s 20-year military occupation devastated Afghanistan’s environment in ways that may never be fully investigated or addressed. American and allied military forces, mostly from NATO countries, repeatedly used munitions that can leave a toxic footprint. These weapons introduced known carcinogens, teratogens, and genotoxins — toxic substances that can cause congenital defects in a fetus and damage DNA — into the environment without accountability. Local residents have long reported U.S. military bases dumping vast quantities of sewage, chemical waste, and toxic substances from their bases onto land and into waterways, contaminating farmland and groundwater for entire communities living nearby. They also burned garbage and other waste in open-air burn pits — some reported to be the size of three football fields — inundating villages with noxious clouds of smoke. Click here to read more (external link).