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
5
Saderah, 30, lost her leg in a mine blast in Badakhshan Province.
6
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."
7
Children look at materials warning about the dangers of land mines in a EORE class outside of Kabul.
8
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.
