KABUL // The end of Nato’s combat mission in Afghanistan could drastically slow progress on unexploded munitions that litter the country, but experts say US-led forces need to hand over more information on their locations.
Decades of conflict since the Soviet invasion in 1979 have left landmines, shells, bombs and rockets scattered across towns, villages and fields, even after extensive clearance efforts that have safely removed millions of items.
All sides involved in the prolonged fighting have been responsible for unexploded munitions, or ordinance, with children most at risk because of their curiosity and the fact they often play in unmarked minefields.
At the start of this year, Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan was replaced by US-led Resolute Support – a training and support mission that signals a key stage of the withdrawal of foreign troops who arrived in 2001.
“[The ISAF troops] used weapons and they know that unexploded ordinance will be left behind. This information is life-saving,” said Mohammad Sediq Rashid, director of the Mine Action Coordination Centre for Afghanistan (MACCA).
“If they gave us the location[s] of where [weapons were used], with the co-ordinates, it really helps. But we don’t get it,” Mr Rashid said. “They have given some [information], but that’s not enough. They should give more.
“We have raised this issue with ISAF ... So far, no action has been taken and they are leaving. If they don’t give it to us, it will be very hard. It will take time, more money, and casualties.
“Lots of people will lose their lives, especially children,” he added.
In Jangalak, south of Kabul, the Halo Trust – a charity that specialises in the removal of ordinance – is clearing munitions from the front line of the 1980s civil war.
“The most dangerous is blind (unexploded) ammunition because if you touch it or try to remove it, sometimes it goes off,” senior Halo Trust official, Zabto Khan, said.
Most civilians are injured by explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster bombs and other unexploded ordinance – and not just by mines, said Mr Khan. “This is a big challenge for the next five or 10 years. Most ERW [are] very close to residential areas.”
According to the United Nations’ 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, all parties must help to clear unexploded munitions after hostilities cease.
But the reality in Afghanistan is that the fighting is set to continue, with the Taliban inflicting heavy casualties on the Afghan security forces, and about 17,000 US-led foreign troops to remain in the country this year.
ISAF said it had cleared all unexploded munitions from firing ranges not being handed over to Afghan forces. Ranges are often on open ground and accessible to the public.
“ISAF has trained more than 7,500 [members of the Afghan forces] in order to dispose of anti-government munitions,” it added.
“This effort has resulted in ISAF and [the Afghan forces] disposing of more than 1.2 million munitions over the last three-and-a-half years.”
ISAF said it had never used landmines, but declined to comment on unexploded munitions its troops had left behind after 13 years of firefights, offensives and aerial bombing.
About 10 per cent of all ammunition does not explode, experts say, leaving a deadly legacy that can kill and maim for decades afterward.
Mr Rashid’s MACCA says Afghanistan remains among the world’s most deadly countries for unexploded munitions, with about 40 people dying every month. Almost half of them are children.
Millions of explosive devices have been destroyed by groups working under the UN-linked MACCA since 2001 in one of the great achievements of the international effort in Afghanistan.
But now, as the US-led intervention winds down and international funding falls, progress on tackling unexploded ordinance is set to slow.
“Planning and everything is done through international organisations,” said Mr Rashid.
“The role of the Afghan government addressing the issue is crucial. But there is no sense of ownership.”
* Agence France-Presse
