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Hidden Killers 1998: The Global Landmine Crisis Chapter III: Mine-Affected Countries (continued)

ASIA
[Afghanistan | Cambodia]

COUNTRY PROFILE: AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan, a landlocked country in southwest Asia, occupies 647,500 square kilometers north and west of Pakistan, east of Iran, and south of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. It has an arid to semiarid climate with cold winters and hot summers and terrain that is mostly rugged mountains with plains in the north and southwest. The country is administratively organized into 32 provinces of 356 districts, with Kabul, the capital, located in the eastern part of the country. Afghanistan is extremely poor and highly dependent on farming and livestock raising; approximately 12 percent of the land is arable. A mid-1997 estimate placed the population at 23,738,085 (footnote 102).

Landmine Problem

Afghanistan has been besieged by occupation, foreign interference, and civil wars since early 1978. The Soviets and their puppet regimes laid countless landmines in Kabul from 1979 to 1992, and some of the feuding mujahidin factions have laid landmines since 1992. Most recently, the radical Islamist, predominantly Pakhtun movement, the Taliban, has gained control of about two-thirds of the country, having ousted the Rabbani regime from Kabul in September 1996. Sporadic fighting between the Taliban and its opponents-- a loose alliance of predominantly Tajik, Uzbek, and Shi'a Hazara factions-- in the northern one-third of the country has made mine clearance difficult in that region.

 

Characterization of the Problem. The current UN figure for the number of landmines in Afghanistan, based on earlier estimates, is 10 million, but the original source of this estimate cannot be verified and the actual number may never be determined. Recently, a UN study reported that the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (UNOCHA) has reduced its estimate to 5-7 million (footnote 103). Some NGOs, based on actual clearance experience in heavily mined areas, claim that official estimates are still too high and should be lowered to less than a million (an estimate by The HALO Trust in 1997 was 620,000) (footnote 104). Roughly 50 different types of antipersonnel and antitank mines have been identified during clearance operations (footnote 105).

Location of Landmines. The most heavily mined areas are the provinces bordering Iran and Pakistan (the western, southern, and eastern parts of the country); it has been estimated that 162 of the 356 districts in Afghanistan are mine-affected. Security belts of landmines exist around major cities and at airports, government installations, and power stations. Grazing lands, waterways, schools, paths, villages, and cities are infested with mostly antipersonnel mines. Extensive mining in Kabul took place after residents fled to safe havens outside the capital (footnote 106).

Impact. The majority of minefields in Afghanistan have been found in agricultural and grazing lands and in or near irrigation systems (footnote 107). Landmines are responsible for depopulating vast tracts of the countryside, affecting crop harvests, and interfering with the transportation of food supplies into the cities. Roughly 50 percent of Afghan villages and an estimated 25 percent of paved roads have been destroyed or ruined. During the conflict, one-third of the population fled the country, with Pakistan and Iran sheltering a combined peak of more than 6 million refugees. Recent field surveys conducted by the VVAF and the UNHCR reported that landmines were the primary reason for refugees leaving Afghanistan and not returning home (footnote 108). While more than half of the refugees from the war against the Soviets have returned to Afghanistan, other, smaller waves of refugees left Afghanistan-- particularly Kabul-- after the mujahidin came to power in Kabul in 1992 and after the Taliban captured the city in 1996. Approximately 1.4 million registered Afghan refugees remain in Iran and 1 million in Pakistan, with Pakistan claiming an additional half million unregistered Afghan refugees in the country. GDP has fallen substantially since 1982 because of the loss of labor and capital and the disruption of trade and transport. The UNDP now rates Afghanistan as 171 out of 173 countries in terms of greatest poverty and least development (footnotes 109, 110).

Casualties. According to ICRC statistics, the most dangerous activities to rural populations are tilling fields, herding livestock, and foraging for wood and food (footnote 111). Overall national figures on the rate of landmine-related injuries and death are not available, but casualty estimates indicate that landmines and UXO cause an estimated 10 to 12 civilian casualties per day (footnote 112).Recent MSF and ICRC surveys suggest that this figure is too low, since many victims never get to treatment centers because of a lack of transportation, significant distances, or impassable roads, and thus are not reported. Victims who do arrive at a hospital often receive inappropriate treatment (footnote 113). Nevertheless, the data have shown an overall decline in accidents since 1994 as a result of the combination of clearance of high priority areas and an increased emphasis on mine awareness education (footnote 114).

Country Response

No Afghan government office is specifically responsible for demining activities at the current time. However, the demining program is the oldest and most mature of all UN demining programs, and mine clearance programs in other countries have used the protocols, curricula, and management tools pioneered in Afghanistan. The program has achieved these distinctions in the absence of a national government (footnote 115).

Organization for Demining. The UN established UNOCHA in 1988 and subsequently created its Mine Clearance Program (UNMCP), now called the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA), to govern and manage all humanitarian demining activities. The MAPA also supports R&D efforts for detecting and clearing landmines. The UNOCHA MAC, located in Islamabad, coordinates indigenous efforts and those of international NGOs throughout Afghanistan (footnote 116).The UNOCHA 1997 budget included $18 million for mine awareness, mine clearance, survey, marking, and training and will grow to $23.5 million in 1998 (footnote 117). In spite of the lack of government oversight, the mine action program in Afghanistan has attained remarkable success.

Mine Clearance. In 1996, MAPA consisted of 50 manual mine clearance teams, one mechanical clearance team, three battle area clearance teams, two EOD teams, 20 minefield survey teams, 25 mine awareness teams, 10 mine dog groups, 20 mine dog sets, and six monitoring teams. The 1998 mine action plan calls for training nine manual clearance teams in battle area clearance, raising two new EOD teams, a small expansion in mine dog capacity, an increase in manual clearance teams, and an increased mechanical clearance capability. Field operations are supported by 19 field medical units and 19 field office sites (footnote 118).

Mechanical clearance means, such as flails, continue to be used in some areas, and armor-plated earth movers, coupled with screens for sifting dirt and gravel away from landmines, have improved clearance rates in Kabul. Dog teams have proven 140 to 900 percent more effective than manual clearance teams, depending on the type of terrain (footnote 119). As of the end of November 1997, MAPA had cleared 130 square kilometers of high-priority, mine-contaminated areas and 122 square kilometers of former battlefield areas contaminated by UXO (footnote 120), destroying more than 686,813 devices (landmines and UXO). MAPA surveys indicate that more than 725 square kilometers remain contaminated by landmines, of which 325 square kilometers have been identified as high priority for clearance (footnote 121). Strict adherence to SOPs, protocols, and specialized equipment has been effective in improving clearance rates and safety among clearance teams.

All mine action programs are operated by several national and international NGOs. The Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), the Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA), and the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR) are national NGOs that have provided a clearance capability in Kabul and in the heavily mined provinces since 1990. The Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA), also a national NGO, conducts all surveys, mapping, and identification of minefields throughout Afghanistan and maintains the centralized database. Mine detection and clearance training is run by UNOCHA, but The HALO Trust operates clearance teams and training programs independent of UNOCHA. With funding from USAID, RONCO, an international demining company, developed the original dog and dog-handler program that has since become one of the principal national NGOs, the Mine Detection Dog Center (MDC). The MDC, currently funded principally by the German Federal Foreign Office via UNOCHA, plans to increase its mine dog groups from 15 to 17 and mine dog sets from 20 to 29 (footnote 122). MDC's spectacular success in pioneering the use of mine-sniffing dogs has elicited requests from mine action programs in Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Mozambique, among other countries.

Mine Awareness. The MAPA-coordinated mine awareness program continues to emphasize a community-based approach; mine awareness briefings have been given to more than 3.2 million people inside Afghanistan and in refugee camps outside the country since the inception of the program (footnote 123). UNOCHA initially funded mine awareness training and, through the IRC, conducted training in the refugee camps prior to the inhabitants returning to their villages in Afghanistan. Currently, mine awareness training and education are conducted by a host of national and international NGOs and agencies. One Afghan NGO, the Afghan Mine Awareness Agency (AMAA), focuses exclusively on mine awareness training. The Afghan Red Crescent Society, HI, MSF, and Save the Children-USA provide mine awareness training and education as part of their programs. In addition, the Iranian Refugee Relief Group of Ansar and the Pakistan Red Crescent Society conduct mine awareness programs in refugee centers along their borders with Afghanistan (footnote 124). An effective mine awareness program exists in much of the country, but ongoing conflicts in some regions and limitations by the Taliban authorities on direct instruction to women have made the provision of training to some key segments of the victim population more difficult.

Victim Assistance. Medical treatment, rehabilitation, prosthetic devices, and education are provided through numerous international and national NGOs. The ICRC provides training of indigenous medical personnel in rehabilitation and medical services in several regional centers. HI, Save the Children, and MSF all provide additional treatment and rehabilitative services. Four ICRC rehabilitation centers, with a labor force of more than 50 percent disabled indigenous workers, provide prosthetic devices for hospitals in the country. Organizations such as CIET International have provided community surveys (where the conflict allowed) to better understand the impact and provision of basic services at the village and district levels (footnote 125).

Other International Involvement

U.S. and international organizations often provide funding for multiple programs. Between 1994-1998, the UN's VTF for Assistance in Mine Clearance has either disbursed or committed $1 million for programs in Afghanistan. Over time, organizations such as the U.S. Department of State, USAID, World Health Organization (WHO), WFP, and the EU have been instrumental in providing funding for mine awareness, education, and training programs. UNICEF has been particularly involved in providing new educational material for mine awareness programs taught in schools. WFP and USAID are working on mine awareness, as an adjunct to their delivery of provisions and aid to villages and districts, to improve safety and awareness of the dangers of landmines (footnote 126).

Outlook for the Future

Afghanistan's demining program exists despite the absence of central governmental direction. In fact, the program has been so successful that other countries use its mine clearance, mine awareness, and victim assistance components as models. Casualty rates should continue to decrease in response to effective countrywide mine awareness efforts and as more and more productive land is returned to the inhabitants. Afghanistan needs to focus on establishing a strong national infrastructure to support and extend the substantial international demining programs now in effect.

 

 

Footnotes

102. CIA, 1997 World Fact Book, Afghanistan, http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/af.html, March 20, 1998, 1-3.

103. UNDHA, Afghanistan. The Development of Indigenous Mine Action Capacities, February 1998, 9.

104. The HALO Trust Donor Meeting, op. cit.

105. UNDHA, Landmine Database. Country Report: Afghanistan, 1997, 12-13.

106. U.S. Department of State, Landmine Database. Comprehensive Report: Afghanistan, August 1997, 3.

107. AMEMBASSY Islamabad message, subject: Afghanistan: Antipersonnel Landmines: Updating Hidden Killers, P201227Z March 1998, 1.

108. Idem.

109. U.S. Department of State, Landmine Database. Afghanistan, op. cit., 3-4.

110. CIA, Afghanistan, op. cit.

111. ICRC, The Worldwide Epidemic of Landmine Injuries: The ICRC's Health Oriented Approach, September 1995, 3.

112. AMEMBASSY Islamabad, op. cit., 2.

113. Medecins sans Frontieres, Living in a Minefield. A Report on the Mine Problem in Afghanistan, May 1997, 12.

114. AMEMBASSY Islamabad, op. cit., 2.

115. UNDHA, Afghanistan. The Development of Indigenous Mine Action Capacities, op. cit., 20-27.

116. AMEMBASSY Islamabad, op. cit., 3.

117. UN General Assembly, Assistance in Mine Clearance. Report of the Secretary-General, op. cit., 12.

118. UNDHA, Landmine Database. Demining Programme Report: Afghanistan, 1997, 11.

119. UNDHA, Afghanistan. The Development of Indigenous Mine Action Capacities, op. cit., 28.

120. UNOCHA, Mine Action Programme for Afghanistan: Workplan 1998, 1998, 5.

121. Ibid, 4.

122. AMEMBASSY Islamabad, op. cit., 4.

123. UN General Assembly, Assistance in Mine Clearance, op. cit., 12.

124. UNDHA, Landmine Database. Afghanistan, 1997, 15-22.

125. Neil Andersson et al., op. cit., 717-721.

126. UNICEF, Antipersonnel Landmines

[End of Section]

[End of Section]

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