Afghanistan

History of Minelaying

Afghanistan was heavily mined by Soviet forces during the ten year occupation.

Further mine-laying was carried out by the communist regime of Najibullah, during localised internecine fighting between Mujahideen groups and most recently between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance.

All defending forces laid landmines to protect their Main Supply Routes (particularly the road north from Kabul to the old Soviet border), their airfields, military posts around key towns, and the actual front lines. The geography of the conflict meant that different factions have frequently mined the same areas at different times.

The Problem

Afghanistan is one of the most mined countries in the world, with HALO estimates of up to 640,000 mines laid since 1979.

During the periods of conflict described above millions of Afghans fled their homes and made their way to Pakistan and Iran in order to escape the conflict that was ravaging their country. With prolonged periods of conflict in which front lines were shifting and there was extensive mine-laying, residential areas and agricultural land soon became so dangerous that Afghan families felt that the safest place to be was outside Afghanistan.

Upwards of 6.2 million Afghans were reported as having left Afghanistan for Pakistan and Iran alone during the various phases of conflict. However, since the fall of the Taliban over 4.49 million refugees (UNHCR Figures: March 2002 – May 2010) have returned to their homes as the Karzai Government has attempted to bring political and economic stability to the country.

The Solution

HALO’s humanitarian mineclearance project in Afghanistan remains the oldest and largest in the world.

HALO introduced to the world the concept of humanitarian mineclearance in 1988 and has continued clearing mines in Afghanistan despite the fragile political situation bought on by the continuous conflict that has beleaguered the country since the late 1970s. Over the last 20 years the program has developed from two teams up to its current size of 150 teams. HALO policy in Afghanistan has been based on adherence to principles of good governance and recruiting a multi-ethnic workforce, and this has played a large part in guaranteeing HALO’s freedom of movement in the Central and Northern regions of Afghanistan. It has also enabled HALO to work more or less without interference since 1988, regardless of the regime in power.

Between 1988 and 2011, HALO Afghanistan destroyed over 761,063 mines (220,063 emplaced mines and 541,000 stockpiled mines), 10 million items of large calibre ammunition and 45.6 million bullets.

HALO Afghanistan currently has an operational capacity employing over 3,200 Afghans, and runs a mixture of manual, mechanical, survey/EOD, battle area clearance (BAC) and weapon and ammunition disposal (WAD) teams. HALO’s current area of operations, excluding the WAD teams who work in every region of the country, is in nine provinces of the Northern and Central regions and Herat Province in the west of the country. The organization is dedicated to building a local capacity and nowhere is this better exemplified than in Afghanistan where our 3,200 Afghan staff are managed by Afghans, with assistance from just 2 expatriate staff. HALO also continues to be the largest implementing agency of the Mine Action Program for Afghanistan (MAPA).

Weapons & Ammunition Disposal (WAD)

Initially the WAD teams concentrated on the disposal of the significant quantities of degraded and unstable ammunition that were amassed across the country after the formation of the present government.

Over the course of its first five years, the HALO WAD Afghanistan project destroyed more than 5 millions explosive items and forty millions bullets. It also deactivated 2,800 heavy weapons such as tanks and artillery pieces and chopped up more than 50,000 thousand light weapons. After this phase of the disarmament process had been completed, HALO’s focus became the location and destruction of ammunition stocks that lie outside of direct government control.

HALO now deploys WAD survey teams, to scout out hidden caches of ammunition, and disposal teams, who excavate the caches and then destroy the ammunition. Currently the HALO WAD teams are locating and destroying an average of around 20,000 explosive items (with a gross weight of 100 tonnes) every month. That figure does not include the smaller items such as bullets that the teams destroy.

Requirement for continued clearance

Humanitarian mineclearance in Afghanistan must continue unless the international community is prepared to accept thousands of civilian casualties for decades to come.

Afghanistan has recorded 20,243 mine and ERW casualties between 1979 and 2012, though the number unrecorded means the total is likely to be significantly higher. It is HALO’s strong belief that only through maintaining the appropriate scale can Afghanistan’s landmine problem be addressed in order that casualties are avoided and the population of Afghanistan is no longer impacted by the presence of mines and other explosive remnants of war.

Hence it is HALO’s plan to seek to maintain, and where possible expand, its current capacity in order to clear all high and medium priority tasks within its area of operations.

Program management - Senior staff

Dr Farid Homayoun

HALO Afghanistan Program Manager

Farid has been the HALO Afghanistan Program Manager since April 1995, and was the first HALO Afghanistan employee recruited in 1988. Currently in charge of over 3,200 Afghans and international staff 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.

David True

HALO Afghanistan Expatriate Operations Officer

David joined the HALO Trust in late October 2010 and after a period training in Cambodia, started working in southern Angola as a field officer and subsequently, the deputy program manager. In May 2012, David moved to Afghanistan as the operations expatriate. Prior to joining the HALO Trust, David served as an officer in The Parachute Regiment, British Army.

Zabto Khan

HALO Afghanistan EOD Officer

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 traveled 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 Planning Officer, joined the HALO Trust in 1997 and currently provides technical planning 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 HQ Support Officer who has previously served as the Central Region Operations Officer.  SQ joined HALO in 1994.  He is married with five children.

Abdul Qahar

HALO Afghanistan Central Region Operations Officer

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

Dr Nasir Ahmad

HALO Afghanistan Program Liaison Officer

Dr Nasir has worked for The HALO Trust in Afghanistan since 1991; he has held various positions, including Office Manager and Medical Support Doctor for HALO’s northern operations, North Project Manager for 10 years, Weapons and Ammunition Disposal Project Manager for 9 years, and more recently as Program Liaison Officer.  Dr Nasir is married with six children.