Afghanistan Senior Staff

Dr Farid Homayoun
HALO Afghanistan Programme Manager

Farid has been the HALO Afghanistan Programme Manager since April 1995, and was the first HALO Afghanistan employee recruited in 1988. Currently in charge of over 3,600 Afghans and expats who work in Central, Northern and Western Regions of the Country, Farid is a national member of staff and plays a vital role in liaison with Afghan Government Authorities and HALO Afghanistan donor countries; he is responsible for all aspects of HALO Trust Operations across the country. He is married and has six children

Calvin Ruysen
HALO Afghanistan Operations Officer

Calvin has worked for HALO since 2007.  Having completed his training in Nagorno Karabakh and Cambodia, Calvin moved to Sri Lanka  to run operations and subsequently to run the entire programme.  Calvin has been Deputy Programme Manager in Angola and Programme Manager in Somaliland and is currently senior expatriate Operations Officer in Afghanistan.  Before joining HALO, he worked for Trekforce leading expeditions in the Belizean jungle.  Masters in Architecture – Graduate of Edinburgh University 2001.

Zabto joined the HALO Trust in October 1995 and currently works as the Program EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Officer. Zabto plays a key role in training HALO field staff to identify and deal safely with munitions. He is a senior member of the HALO Operations team and has travelled to other HALO countries to conduct EOD training of national and international staff. He is married and has five children.

Rahmatullah
HALO Afghanistan Program Planning Officer

Rahmatullah, the Program Mineclearance Officer, joined the HALO Trust in 1997 and currently provides technical support to the Regional Operations Officers, to the program expatriate Senior Operations Officer and the Program Manager. He plays a significant role in the preparation and translation of HALO Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). He is married with five children.

Sayed Qasim
HALO Afghanistan HQ Support Officer

Sayed Qasim (known by all as ‘SQ’) is the Regional Operations Officer for Central Region. He joined HALO in 1997. He currently controls over 1,400 staff including a total of 83 manual, mechanical, Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Survey and Battle Area Clearance teams. He has a survey and topography background and has used his previous military experience to great effect in support of HALO’s humanitarian mineclearance activities. He is married with five children.

Abdul Qahar
HALO Afghanistan Central Region Operations Officer

Abdul, HALO Afghanistan’s Regional Operations Officer for the Northern Region, joined HALO in 1995. He is currently responsible for commanding and controlling mineclearance operations across the northern region, over 1,300 national staff. He is married with a wife and 6 children.

Haji Nesar Ahmad
HALO Afghanistan Mineclearance Officer

Nesar joined the HALO Trust in November 1998. After being trained in manual demining his main interest has become mechanical mine clearance. He worked initially as mechanical manager and in 2004 was appointed as the Program Mineclearance Officer. He plays a key role in overall management of HALO 56 mech assets deployed across the country and helps the Senior Ops Officer in writing mechanical mineclearance SOPs, Research & Development, teams deployment, training and making sure that HALO mechanical assets are maintained. Haji Nesar is married and has 5 children.