New developments in landmine situation in Afghanistan

(Tuesday 09 October 2001 Washington DC) Landmine Monitor Fact Sheet

See also Human Rights Watch Backgrounder on Landmines in Afghanistan

Four employees of the Afghan Technical Consultants were killed and another 4 injured on 9 October (second night of bombing) when a bomb hit the building they were in, several miles east of Kabul. This is the first independent report of civilian deaths resulting from the U.S.-led military action on Afghanistan.

At a news conference in Islamabad, the Pakistan capital, a spokeswoman for the United Nations said, “People need to distinguish between combatants and those innocent civilians who do not bear arms.”

Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), official Dr. Shah Wali told Reuters, “This is a civilian area and they have killed four of the guards of this building…We are linked to a demining agency and our goal and objective is to clear and free Afghanistan from the menace of mines.”

Afghan Technical Consultants, established in 1989, is the oldest and the largest mine action NGO in Afghanistan. It has 1,299 employees. It mainly operates in the central and eastern regions of the country, with its head office in Peshawar (Pakistan) and offices in Gardez, Kandahar and Jalalabad.

In 2000, ATC operated with 21 manual clearance teams, six battle area clearance teams, four mechanical mine clearance teams and four Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams and cleared more than 4.2 million square meters of mine contaminated area and approximately 20 million square meters of former battle area contaminated by UXO. During these clearance operations 2,748 AP mines, 43 AT mines and 66,406 UXO were destroyed. Its 2000 budget was $7.6 million but it only received approximately $4.6 million, due to the funding shortage.

All mine action activities in Afghanistan, including clearance, ceased on 12 September 2001. Deminers are now in training in how to clear some of the new weapons being used in the current campaign.

One Afghan mine action NGO, OMAR, has expressed fears that food being airdropped into Afghanistan will end up in unmarked, mined areas which civilians may enter to reach the food.

Many other NGOs, including Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA), have expressed concerns that many more civilians will be at increased risk due to the massive internal displacement of people. It is likely that there will be an increase in the number of civilians who fall victim to landmines as people flee major cities into unfamiliar and possibly mine-contaminated areas, of which very few are marked, in villages and along the borders. During flight or once settled temporarily, people fetching water, food, shelter will be at increased risk. No exact casualty figures are available, due to the difficulty of communicating with those in Afghanistan.

In the year 2000:

• Mine awareness organizations provided formal mine awareness training to more than one million people.
• There was an average of about 88 mine and UXO casualties recorded per month, a sharp decline from recorded casualties in 1999. It is believed that almost fifty-percent of mine victims in Afghanistan are still believed to die before reaching a medical facility.
• Mine action organizations marked and mapped about 126 million square meters (126 square kilometers) of mine and UXO contaminated land, and cleared about 104 million square meters (104 sq. km). 13,542 antipersonnel mines were cleared.
• In 2000, the known contaminated area was estimated to total approximately 724 million square meters (724 sq. km). Of this some 344 million square meters (344 sq. km) is classified as high priority land. A major socio-economic impact study published in December 1999, reported that affected land consisted of 61% grazing land, 26% agricultural land, 7% roads, 4% residential areas, and 1% irrigation systems.
• The Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA) employed approximately 4,900 Afghans and fewer than ten expatriates.
• Eight organizations were currently engaged in mine and UXO clearance in Afghanistan. All these organizations are now based in Afghanistan with small offices in Pakistan for logistics support.
• MAPA experienced a severe shortage of funds. While the program budget for 2000 was $26.3 million, only $17 million was received. As a result, MAPA had to decrease its operations by 50 percent in the last quarter of 2000. (In 1999 $22 million was spent while in 1998 $27 million was spent.)

• As of January 2001, there were 31 technical survey teams, 114 clearance teams (manual, mechanical, EOD/bomb disposal and mine detecting dog), 11 training and monitoring teams, 10 mine awareness projects and a range of management, technical and support services.
• Most of the mines were laid in Afghanistan during the Soviet occupation and the subsequent communist regime between 1980-1992. Mines were also used in the internal fighting among various armed groups from 1992 to 1996, particularly in Kabul city and its outskirts.
• At least fifty different types of mines have been identified in Afghanistan of Belgian, Chinese, ex-Czechoslovakian, Iranian, Italian, Pakistani, Singaporean, ex-USSR, United Kingdom, ex-Yugoslavian, and Zimbabwean manufacture.
• The Taliban and their opposition, the Northern Alliance, have accused each other of laying new landmines. The Northern Alliance denied use to Landmine Monitor, but admitted to an EU mission that they continued to use antipersonnel mines.
• In 1998, Taliban’s Supreme Leader issued a decree of supporting the ban, which “strongly condemns” the use of landmines as an “un-Islamic and anti-human act.” Taliban officials have asked United Nations authorities to urge Iran and Russia to stop sending landmines to the opposition.
• Iran, Pakistan, Russian, the United States and Uzbekistan have not yet joined the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. The treaty, which prohibits any use of antipersonnel mines under any circumstances, currently has 142 members including Tajikistan and the U.K.

This information is drawn from media reports, reports from the field and the 1999, 2000 and 2001 Landmine Monitor reports by the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. See also Landmines in Afghanistan Fact Sheet or Landmine Monitor Reports on Afghanistan:

• Landmine Monitor Report 2001 - Afghanistan
• Landmine Monitor Report 2000 - Afghanistan
• Landmine Monitor Report 1999 - Afghanistan

Contact: Email SPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org">mediaSPAMFLTER@SPATMFLTERicbl.org or:

• Mary Wareham, Human Rights Watch, Tel. +1 202 612-4356
• Sue Wixley, ICBL, Tel. +44 20 7820 9577
• Qadeem Tariq, Mine Clearance Planning Agency, Tel: +92 91 810803 or +92 91 810194