Families of victims of landmine explosions left from past wars urge the Islamic Emirate de-facto government to take serious action to clear mine-contaminated areas.
Shamrez Khan, a resident of Parwan, shares that his brother lost both of his legs due to a landmine explosion in their village. He says, “My brother was taking animals to pasture when he encountered a landmine, which caused his disability. We urge the government to clear the mine-infested areas because we take our animals to the mountains every day, and they are full of mines.”
Belquis, a resident of Sufiabad in Herat, who lost a relative to a landmine explosion, says many children in her village have lost their lives due to a lack of awareness about contaminated areas. “No one knows where the mines are. If the children knew which areas were contaminated, they wouldn’t go near them.”
Similarly, Khan Mohammad, a resident of Qarabagh in Ghazni, has also called on the Islamic Emirate to take immediate action to clear areas affected by explosive remnants of war. “We fear the mines that have been left behind. When children take animals to pasture, they face dangers. Mine-clearing organizations should address this problem.”
Previously, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also said that decades of conflict have left Afghanistan as one of the world’s most heavily mine-affected countries.
UNAMA emphasized that children are disproportionately among the victims of explosive remnants of war and landmines.
Earlier, the Afghanistan section of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported that in the year 2024, over 500 children in Afghanistan were killed or injured by landmine explosions and remnants of war.
The organization added that last year, it educated three million children about the dangers posed by unexploded ordnance.
