The Taliban's return to power following the end of its 20-year insurgency could have aided demining efforts by opening up territory previously inaccessible due to fighting. Many foreign governments who had been providing assistance are now refusing to use taxpayer funds to prop up the Taliban, an Islamist group that enforces its hard-line interpretation of Shari'a law and has been at odds with much of the West since harboring Osama bin Laden following the 9/11 attacks. One unintended consequence of punishing the Taliban, however, is that more people will be killed or maimed by a legacy of land mines.
Afghanistan's Land Mines: A Legacy Of War
- By RFE/RL
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According to the United Nations, 150 people are killed by land mines in Afghanistan each month. Eight out of every 10 victims are children who inadvertently pick up an unexploded ordnance, some of which resemble toys. Idris, 8, is one such casualty who is now learning how to live with a prosthetic leg provided to him by a Red Cross rehabilitation center in Kabul.
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Ahmad Zia, 17, is examined by his uncle at the Red Cross rehabilitation center in Kabul after losing one of his legs in a mine blast. About 41,000 Afghan civilians have been killed or wounded by land mines and unexploded ordnance since 1988, according to the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). More than two-thirds of the victims were children.
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Amanullah, 25, who lost a leg in a mine blast in Helmand, sits at the Red Cross rehabilitation center in Kabul.
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Mohammad Zahir (center), 34, who lost both legs in a mine blast in Kandahar, practices walking with a new prosthesis. Many of the staff members are amputees who have been trained to manufacture, fit, and provide physical therapy to other amputees.
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Saderah, 30, lost her leg in a mine blast in Badakhshan Province.
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An Afghan boy conducts an Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE) class in the village of Qafas Kalay outside of Kabul.
Secretary-General of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Charlotte Slente, who oversees programs in Afghanistan, told Reuters, "An integral part of our work on humanitarian demining is actually educating adults, children, on the risks and how to avoid them; how can they recognize the ordnances and unexploded ordnances, and land mines; how are they going to react, if they find things at the surface that they don't recognize."
Secretary-General of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) Charlotte Slente, who oversees programs in Afghanistan, told Reuters, "An integral part of our work on humanitarian demining is actually educating adults, children, on the risks and how to avoid them; how can they recognize the ordnances and unexploded ordnances, and land mines; how are they going to react, if they find things at the surface that they don't recognize."
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Children look at materials warning about the dangers of land mines in a EORE class outside of Kabul.
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Danish Refugee Council demining personnel search for unexploded ordnance in the Khaki Jabbar district of Kabul Province.
"The issue of land mines and unexploded ordnances is a very, very big problem in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is actually one of the most contaminated countries on earth," said DRC's Slente.
"The issue of land mines and unexploded ordnances is a very, very big problem in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is actually one of the most contaminated countries on earth," said DRC's Slente.
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A deminer searches for unexploded ordnance in the Kabul Province. According to the DRC, aid groups do the majority of demining work in Afghanistan.
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A red marker is placed near a discovered Soviet anti-personnel mine. Deminers will use long cables to detonate the mine from a safe distance before resuming their work to uncover more mines.
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A controlled land-mine explosion in the Kabul Province.
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A deminer surveys the landscape from his vantage point in Kabul Province. Though hundreds of devices have been detonated, tens of thousands of square miles have yet to be cleared.
