Afghanistan
FSD has been active in the country since 2001. The organisation has several demining, risk education and mine victim assistance teams.
Afghanistan
Context
Afghanistan is one of the countries most contaminated by mines and explosive remnants of war, a legacy of nearly four decades of armed conflict.
The country’s remote north-eastern region of Badakhshan represents 15% of the contaminated territory. FSD operates in the area, where many mine accidents occur. It is a region isolated from the rest of the country by a mountain range with limited access to international aid.
Often involved in accidents: “butterfly” mines, those green plastic devices dropped by Soviet helicopters during the conflict against the mujaheddin in the 1980s. More than one million butterfly mines reportedly still remain in the country.
Some children have no option but to cross mined areas to reach school.
Said Omar
School Director in the Darwaz region
Timeline
FSD in Afghanistan
In 2001, FSD participated in the clearance of mines from the Kandahar province, in the south east of the country. This was mandated by the World Food Programme and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
About 10 years later, a second demining project was implemented in the Badakhshan province, in the north east of the country, close to the border with Tajikistan. The project included demining and risk education activities.
The region, characterized by harsh winters and heavy snowfalls, is cut off from the rest of Afghanistan by a mountain range. For more than 20 years, FSD carried out its operations in the region from an operational base in Qal’ai Khumb, on Tajik territory.
Year after year, when they interact with people from local communities, FSD teams see that many mine victims live in dire socio-economic circumstances and receive no assistance. Following a private donation appeal, a programme to support these victims was put in place in 2019.
In 2022, an operational base was set up in Kunduz, making it possible to deploy demining teams in the region and in the neighbouring province of Balkh.
FSD carries out its activities in Afghanistan with the support of the United States Department of State, the PATRIP Foundation and other private donors.
Stories
News from Afghanistan
Mine victim assistance
Taj Mir (centre) was injured in a landmine explosion in 2000 in a village near Kunduz, in Afghanistan. The schoolteacher has suffered from persistent pain ever since and has difficulty moving around […]
1106 mines cleared in 2021
full excavation in Afghanistan
A deminer must investigate any signal to a depth of 13 centimetres. Here, this Afghan deminer is working in soil with a high metal content, which makes it impossible to use the detector. […]
CENTIMETRE after CENTIMETRE
In 2021, our deminers cleared 8,5 km², an area equivalent to half of Geneva. The work required constant concentration, even under working conditions that were at times extreme.
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