The Middle East has always been a dry, arid, and hot region of the world. However, the water crisis seems to be increasing as water resources are diminishing. The region has never been a rainfall surplus region. It has been more of a rainfall deficit region. Now, as states in the Middle East draw more water from the ground, these ground resources are not being replenished at the same rate. A water crisis is looming ahead.

Iran’s Lake Urmia was the biggest lake in the Middle East about two decades ago. It was a tourist attraction and people used to come to swim in the lake or shuttle to its various little islets in ferries. The local economy thrived due to the lake and its environs. Now, the lake has shrunk in size. It has also become extremely salty and recent data even hints at a possibility that the lake could disappear altogether; as the water level shrinks.

According to the Department of Environmental Protection of West Azerbaijan, one of the provinces in Iran which borders the lake, Lake Urmia has shrunk from its size of 5,400 square kilometers or approximately 2,085 square miles in the nineteen nineties to its current size of 2,500 square kilometers or approximately 965 square miles. It has lost more than half its size in less than two decades.

The Middle East is beset with problems including severe drought and high temperatures. There could be a dire situation of lack of water in the region within the next few years. Factors including climate change, water mismanagement and the excessive use of water for agriculture have made ground water scarce. More water is being pumped out and insufficient rain ensures that the ground water in not replenished.

Countries such as Iran, Iraq and Jordan are using reserve ground water sources to improve self-sufficiency in food. However, this will make them water deficient. Some of the middle eastern countries use desalination plants to get fresh water from seawater but it has its own drawbacks.

As a result,  climate change winters are expected to become drier, and summer will become wetter. However, the additional rainfall may not be useful or stored as the extreme heat could evaporate the water faster and there could also be flash floods rather than normal rains which can create more havoc.

Climate change is affecting the entire world and recent reports from the United Nations have reiterated the need for all countries to do their best to tackle the rise in temperatures and make other environmental changes so that planet earth can remain habitable for a longer period of time.

As the situation worsens in Afghanistan, many countries who had a presence in the nation are working round-the-clock to safely evacuate their citizens as well as Afghans who worked for them and helped them in the past two decades. To speed up the process, the U.S. has activated the Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF) which allows the use of civil aircraft. This will speed up the evacuation process as Afghanistan continues to plunge into further chaos.

Although the CRAF has been activated a few times in the past it has been close to two decades since it has been activated, during the Iraq War in 2003. The civil flights will not operate in Afghanistan. The Defense Department noted that 18 aircrafts from six commercial airlines will help lift evacuees from interim stations in Europe and the Middle East including Germany, Qatar and Bahrain.

The following airlines will provide aircraft:

1. United Airlines – 4 aircrafts
2. American Airlines – 3 aircrafts
3. Atlas Air – 3 aircrafts
4. Delta Air Lines – 3 aircrafts
5. Omni Air – 3 aircrafts
6. Hawaiian Airlines – 2 aircrafts.

Defense Department spokesperson John Kirby said in a statement that eighteen planes would be used to bring home those American and Afghan evacuees who were already in “safe havens and interim staging bases.” He also noted that the department did not anticipate that the deployment of these commercial aircraft would have a major impact on commercial flights.

According to people who are familiar with the matter, all the U.S. airlines had volunteered aircrafts to help in the evacuation efforts, earlier this week. As of now there are 18 aircrafts that will help in the evacuation, which began on Saturday. The numbers may increase or decrease in future.

Amid the chaos in both Afghanistan and end route to Kabul airport, NBC reported on Saturday that defense officials had said that the U.S. military was exploring several ways to get evacuees from American, Afghanistan and third-country nationals, safely to Kabul airport.

A hundred Afghan security staff, who had guarded the Australian embassy in Kabul, received a notification from the Department of Foreign Affairs that they are not eligible for immediate evacuation, on Friday. The security guards received a standard mass rejection letter saying that they didn’t qualify under the rules and they should contact a migration lawyer.

ABC News obtained the letter sent to the security staff. The sub-contractor group of Afghan security staff got a pro-forma rejection letter by email. It stated that they were “not eligible for certification” under a visa scheme called “At Risk Afghan Employee Visa Scheme.” The letter thanked them for their application and said that Marise Payne, who is the Foreign Affairs Minister had considered them.

The agency reported that the email also stated that extra 3,000 places have been added to Australia’s program and that particular priority would be given to those minorities who are expected to face persecution as well as to those who had links to Australia.

The letter continued to inform the recipients to check their options as per the above scheme. It said that their names had been given to the Home Affairs Department, which is in charge of processing applications. It also recommended that they might contact a migration lawyer to discuss the mentioned “avenues.”

The entire group was shocked by the email. These security guards had been thoroughly vetted before joining and had guarded the Australian embassy, for a salary that was below $30 per day. They felt abandoned by the very people they had risked their lives to guard and protect for years on end.

One of the reasons for rejection under the scheme was reportedly because they were sub contract workers and were not in direct employment by the embassy. ABC News has not named the contractors to safeguard them from possible retribution.

A lawyer, who is working to help Afghans leave the country, has put forth a Federal Court challenge. Late on Sunday, a DAFT spokesperson said that the guards had been approved for visas under “another humanitarian category.” However, the advocates have said that the guards have not received any information, till the publication of this article.

Royalty-free  stock photo  ID: 2025653813

On Friday, Oscar winning star Angelina Jolie posted for the first time on Instagram. She shared a letter that she had received from a teenage Afghani girl. She captioned her post saying that the people of Afghanistan were currently losing their ability to communicate on social media and that they were also losing freedom of expression. She got a million followers very quickly and her first post got 25,000 within an hour of posting.

The Maleficent star said that she had joined Instagram to share stories of the Afghans as well of people all over the world who were fighting for basic rights. The 46-year-old, fiercely private actress, who has not been on social media before, was moved by the plight of the young teenager and joined social media to spread such stories by using social media platforms.

The young girl’s name had been redacted for fear of retaliation. She said that she was afraid that the Taliban would not allow her to go to school and said that they were “all imprisoned again.” When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan almost two decades ago, they had taken away basic of rights of women including education.

Jolie, who had been to Afghanistan in a humanitarian mission a few weeks before 9/11, had previously met refugees who were escaping the Taliban. Once again, there are hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees who wish to leave but have few sanctuaries and Jolie appealed to the global, regional and local powers to “provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians.”

The Eternals actress said that it was sickening to watch Afghans being displaced, once again, as “fear and uncertainty” gripped Afghanistan. She also said that it was almost impossible to understand that it was a failure after so much of time, money, blood had been shed and lives had been lost to the Afghan cause.

The Academy Award actress ended her post saying that she would not turn away, like others who were committed and would continue to look for ways to help and she told her followers that she hoped that they would join her in her quest.

Image Gage Skidmore