KABUL (SW) – Officials in the Ministry of Disasters Management say that the casualties of mines and unexploded ammunition in Afghanistan have increased compared to last year.
According to the officials, in the last eight months, 213 children have been killed and injured as a result of mine explosions.
Nouruddin Rostamkhel, head of Minesweeping Cohesion and Coordination at the Ministry of Disasters Management told Salaam Watandar that since the beginning of this year, 169 incidents of mine explosions have occurred across the country, as a result of which 321 people have been killed and injured. He added: “Midan Wardak, Ghazni, Zabul, Kandahar, Khost, Paktia, Paktika and the eastern provinces are among the most polluted areas where nothing has been done in the past 20 years and mine clearance services have not been performed.”
On the other hand, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has recently announced that Afghanistan is one of the most polluted countries with unexploded war ammunition and 85% of the victims of the explosion of these ammunition are children.
Rehman is a 15-year-old teenager who lost one of his legs four months ago due to a landmine explosion in Sarubi district of Kabul. Mohammad Gul, father of Rehman, says that his son hit a landmine while taking his cattle to the pasture. “The mine was hidden underground and exploded when my son was taking sheep to the mountain,” he added. “His condition was very bad. We treated him in Sarubi but it didn’t work. We finally brought him to Kabul. He was in the emergency room for three weeks.”
Ahmadullah is an 11-year-old child in Qarabagh, Ghazni, who lost both his legs due to a mortar shell explosion 18 months ago. Fahim, Ahmadullah’s uncle, said: “This boy was playing with two of his friends when he set off a bomb. One of these children hit the bomb on a rock, which exploded at the same moment. He did not know these children, so he thought there was no danger. ”
Most children in Afghanistan, especially in remote areas, are victims because of lack of knowledge about mines and their dangers.
However, the officials of the Department of Coherence and Coordination of Minesweeping of the Ministry of Disasters Management say that 58 teams are working in the awareness department but this directorate needs more funds to clean more areas and raise awareness.
Nuruddin Rostamkhel said: “The demining program has been dependent on foreign aid for 33 years, and this is a serious problem for us. We ask all foreign aid institutions to increase their contributions so that we can clear more areas.”
Earlier, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced by broadcasting a report that from January 2022 to June 2023, one thousand and 92 people were killed and injured due to the explosion of mines and unexploded ammunition in Afghanistan. Among them, 640 of them are children who were killed and injured in 541 incidents of mine and war ammunition explosions.
According to the statistics of the Ministry of Disasters Management more than 1,200 square kilometers of land in Afghanistan are still contaminated with unexploded mines that need to be cleaned.
ENDS
