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World Landmine News
Coalition Troops, Afghans Suffer Legacy of Mines (AFGHANISTAN)
BAGRAM AIR BASE, Afghanistan, 29 mar 02 (Reuters)--
By John O'Callaghan
U.S.-led coalition forces face danger daily from highly mobile bands of hardcore al Qaeda and Taliban fighters, but a silent killer also lurks just below the surface of Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s parched earth.
One of the millions of land mines sown during the Soviet occupation, the Afghan civil war, and battles between the Taliban and the Northern Alliance claimed the life of a U.S. Navy (news - web sites) Seal near Kandahar on Thursday.
It was a deadly reminder that much of the rugged country is far from safe.
Chief Petty Officer Matthew Bourgeois is unlikely to be the last coalition casualty from the hidden anti-personnel and anti-tank mines that litter Afghanistan.
"It's probably the most heavily mined country in the world, so everywhere you go you have to be very careful where you step," U.S. military spokesman Major Bryan Hilferty told Reuters on Friday at Bagram Air Base just north of Kabul.
"It's particularly sad for the Afghan people. Imagine having a family here and every time your kid runs outside, you're afraid he'll be killed. And, you have to be careful when you plough the fields."
TRAINING AND LUCK
On the road from Kabul to the base, signs in English and Arabic script warn of the danger in the fields to either side. Posters with pictures of mines, shells and cluster bombs also tell people not to touch unexploded ordnance.
"This was so pretty," said one man, gesturing to the twisted, neglected stumps of grape vines stretching away from the road to the snowy peaks in the distance. "Now, all land mines."
But the most vivid illustrations are the thousands of Afghans hobbling around on crutches with empty, dangling trouser legs.
It is often said that the most productive factories in Afghanistan are those run by organizations like the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) making prosthetic limbs to replace those blown off by mines.
U.S. forces clear any ground to be used for any length of time, but soldiers in the field must rely on their training, their eyes and plenty of luck.
"Every piece of land we put a tent on or use for anything we have to de-mine," Hilferty said.
"In a patrol, you'll have certain people looking to the left, certain people looking to the right. The point guy is looking ahead," he added. "If they're buried, you're out of luck."
The largest concentration of mines is in areas of the heaviest fighting between Taliban and Northern Alliance forces, including the dusty flatlands around Kabul and Bagram.
Aid workers rushing to the scene of this week's earthquake around the northern town of Nahrin also had to tread with the utmost care.
"It's a dangerous country. There are mines everywhere," said one U.S. Marine who asked not to be named. "Even here at the base, you hear big booms from time to time and that's the guys out there clearing the mines."
Outside the PX where soldiers buy razor blades, cigarettes and candy bars, a plaque pays tribute to Staff Sergeant Matthew Hess, a member of a bomb disposal team wounded in December as advance teams secured the former Soviet base for incoming troops.
Despite the best efforts, nowhere is certifiably safe. The area of Bagram where Hess lost his leg had been cleared.
MONUMENTAL TASK
Non-governmental organizations are doing much of the de-mining. The military side, the Americans, British, Danes and Poles all have teams, but the Norwegians are the considered to be among the best.
On Friday, the Norwegian team was clearing a patch at the end of the runway at Bagram for a camp that will be occupied by a U.S. unit. It takes hours to comb an area about 50 by 200 meters (yards).
The teams make a visual sweep for mines near the surface before sending in an armored vehicle with a spinning drum that flails chains to detonate them.
Metal detectors are often useless because of the tons of scrap from war debris, leaving men in protective suits to gingerly discover and unearth the mines for later destruction.
"Now it's beginning to get a little warm. In the next weeks and months we'll have to remove some of the protective clothes because of the heat," said Major Guy Robert Finnbraten, a veteran of mine clearing in Lebanon and Kosovo who commands the Norwegian unit. "We'll use helmets and flak jackets at least."
It is meticulous and taxing work that allows not a moment's lapse in concentration. The Norwegians are scheduled to stay until the end of June, but Finnbraten said a monumental task lies ahead to make Afghanistan's fields, mountains and roads safe.
"We hope we can clear some mines and these non-governmental organizations will do more in the next years," he told Reuters. "I think it will take maybe 20 years, 20 or 30 years."
Copyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved.
Posted: Tuesday, April 2, 2002
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