Contaminated by: landmines (massive contamination), cluster munition remnants (medium contamination), and other unexploded ordnance.

 Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline: 1 March 2023
(Not on track to meet deadline)

Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 4 deadline: 1 March 2022
(Capable of meeting deadline)

Despite the progress of clearance operations, the amount of land known to be mine-contaminated has risen in each of the last three years as a result of new information on mine hazards collected in the course of continuing survey. As of the end of 2015, antipersonnel mines affected a total of 251km². The amount of land released from landmines in 2015 plunged to 37km², down from 77km² in 2014, reflecting a sharp downward trend in the amount of funding for mine action.

No release of the 6.86 km² contaminated by cluster munition remnants occurred in 2015, partly due to insecurity in affected areas and a downturn in funding.

Recommendations for action

• The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan should amend reporting forms to disaggregate clearance of cluster munition remnants from other unexploded ordnance (UXO) in line with the requirements of the Convention on Cluster Munitions.
• The Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA) should set revised timelines for clearance of cluster munition remnants and landmines reflecting reduced levels of donor funding. It should clarify the implications for fulfilling its extended Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline.
• Afghanistan should finalize and adopt a national mine action law.

Contamination

Landmines and ERW (see below for cluster munition remnants)

Afghanistan is one of the countries most affected by mines, mainly the result of the decade-long war of resistance that followed the Soviet invasion of 1979, the 1992–96 internal armed conflict, and the continuing conflicts between the government in Kabul and the Taliban and other armed groups. 

Despite the progress of clearance operations, the amount of land known to be mine-contaminated has risen in each of the last three years (see table below) as a result of new information on mine hazards collected in the course of continuing survey. In 2015, survey added 32km² of antipersonnel mined area and 39.5km² of antivehicle mined area in 23 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. As of the end of 2015, MACCA reported that antipersonnel mines affected a total of 251km² of territory, though Afghanistan’s Article 7 transparency report for 2015 put the figure at 239km².[1] MACCA estimated that by the end of March 2016, 917 hazardous areas contaminated by antipersonnel mines covering 75.37km² were located within one kilometer of a community center.[2]

Remaining contamination in 2013–2015[3]

Note: * Abandoned IEDs only; ** Not including International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF) firing ranges.

The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) estimated that mines and ERW block some 77km² of agricultural land, 361km² of grazing land, 29km² of residential areas, 89km² of roads, and 4km² of water sources.[4]

IEDs emplaced by anti-government groups posed the greatest explosive threat to Afghan civilians, including pressure-plate IEDs (PPIEDs) that are victim activated and qualify as weapons prohibited under the Mine Ban Treaty. The MAPA reported that 86% of ERW casualties reported in 2015 were caused by PPIEDs.[5] The extent of PPIED contamination is not known. (For information about ERW and IED casualties please see the Casualties and Victim Assistance country profile).

Cluster munition remnants

MACCA reported that by the end of 2015 it had 17 cluster munition-contaminated areas in four provinces covering a total area of 6.86km² (6,856.393m²), a level unchanged since April 2015. Nearly half of the contamination is in one district of northeastern Takhar province (see table below).[6] 

Cluster munition contamination at the end of 2015[7]

Cluster munitions were used by the United States (US), which dropped 1,228 cluster munitions containing some 248,056 submunitions between October 2001 and early 2002, as well as by Soviet forces during the decade-long war of resistance to the Soviet-backed government.[8]

The reported contamination arises from US use of cluster munitions. However, contamination appears to be more widespread than reported, as demining operators have, in the past, continued to find occasional submunitions resulting from Soviet use.[9] The extent of those finds is unclear as operators’ standard reporting forms only provide for recording clearance of UXO.

Cluster munition remnants are said to block access to grazing and agricultural land.[10]

Program Management

The MAPA is coordinated by MACCA with the support of a UN Mine Action Service (UNMAS) project office. In 2008, within the context of a transition of mine action from the UN to the government, a government interministerial board assigned the lead role in mine action to the Department of Mine Clearance (DMC), renamed in 2015 the Directorate for Mine Action Coordination (DMAC), which is a department of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA) and reports to the Office of the Second Vice President. In early 2016, DMAC had 15 headquarters staff in Kabul employed on government salaries, with plans for the number to increase.[11] It also had 51 quality management inspectors undertaking quality assurance of demining operations and the clearance of ISAF firing ranges, as well as two information management specialists, two communications officers, and two staff associates, employed under UN contracts. MACCA, responding to sharp falls in funding, had reduced its staff from 393 in 2012 to 145 by the start of 2016.[12] DMAC expected to absorb all MACCA personnel by June 2017.[13]

Strategic planning 

Afghanistan set out a landmine clearance plan for the 10 years to March 2023 in the Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline extension request submitted in March 2012 and revised in August of the same year. It planned to complete clearance of all known areas contaminated with antivehicle mines and other ERW as well as antipersonnel mines. It consolidated the 4,442 mine and ERW hazards then remaining into 308 projects, an approach intended to facilitate monitoring of progress and resource mobilization. Projects would be tackled according to their priority as determined by their impact, measured against a set of impact indicators.[14]

However, a sharp downturn in funding for mine clearance has resulted in lower levels of clearance than planned. At the level of funding received in 2015, MACCA estimated it would take a further 12 years to complete clearance.[15]

The MAPA adopted a five-year strategic plan for 1395−1399 (1 April 2016–31 March 2020) focused on “mainstreaming development in mine action” to mitigate the sharp downturn in donor funding experienced since 2011.[16] It set out four goals: facilitating development; engagement with other sectors; “the five pillars of mine action,” incorporating preventive action (survey, clearance, stockpile destruction, risk education, and advocacy) and responsive action (promoting needs of mine accident victims in government policies and budgets); and gender and diversity mainstreaming.

The plan also set out 33 objectives and 108 associated actions. These included having mine action incorporated into Afghanistan’s National Priority Programmes and Sustainable Development Goals; integrating mine action into the activities of line ministries, improving fundraising; completing survey; and keeping implementation of Afghanistan’s Article 5 extension request on track. On the basis of a mid-2015 review, it concluded the MAPA needed $391.7 million to implement the plan, including $353.4 million for clearance, $24.8 million for “coordination” (quality assurance, planning and prioritization, information management, advocacy, and resource mobilization), $3.6 million for survey, and $5.6 million for risk education.[17]

The MAPA’s operational work plan for 1394 (1 April 2015–31 March 2016) aimed for clearance of 75.4km² of affected land but this was dependent on attracting funding of $65.9 million. MACCA reported it received only 62% of this amount and achieved 64% of targeted clearance. Despite this setback, the MAPA’s work plan for 1395 (2016−2017) targeted clearance of almost 91km² of contaminated land with the release of 941 hazards, leading to 233 communities and 27 districts being declared mine-free.[18] 

Afghanistan stated in 2014 that it planned to release 60% of its cluster munition hazards by the end of 2015. The remaining hazardous areas would be tackled “later” because they were located in areas of insecurity.[19] This target was not achieved. In its Convention on Cluster Munitions Article 7 transparency report for 2014, Afghanistan stated it would clear cluster munition-contaminated hazardous areas in Nangahar and Takhar provinces totaling 5km² (nearly three-quarters of the remaining contamination) in Afghan year 1395 (ending 20 March 2017). It planned to clear three hazardous areas totaling 0.8km² in 1397 (ending March 2018) and the last hazardous area covering 0.16km² in Afghan year 1400 (ending March 2022).[20] Note that this is less than the 6.86km² remaining to be cleared.

Legislation

An inter-ministerial committee and MACCA drafted a mine action law in 2005 but it was never enacted. The draft law, now annexed to a Disaster Management Law, has been approved by the Ministry of Justice and sent to the Prime Minister’s Office for review, but has still not been presented to parliament.[21] The lack of such a law, clarifying the structure of mine action and institutional responsibilities, has weakened representation of mine action within the government and its omission from the government’s National Priority Programme, contributing to a serious downturn in funding.[22]

Operators

Clearance of explosive contamination is conducted by five long-established national and three international NGOs. The Afghan NGOs are: Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), Demining Agency for Afghanistan (DAFA), Mine Clearance Planning Agency (MCPA), Mine Detection and Dog Centre (MDC), and the Organization for Mine Clearance and Afghan Rehabilitation (OMAR). The two most active international NGOs are Danish Demining Group (DDG) and HALO Trust, while the Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) has a small operation near the border with Tajikistan.[23] 

A total of 24 commercial companies were accredited in 2015, but only 10 operated during the year and of these only Sterling Demining Afghanistan was active throughout the year, working on clearing ISAF firing ranges. None worked on antipersonnel mine clearance.[24]

As a result of funding cuts, implementing partner capacity had fallen by more than half over the course of three years to just under 5,400 personnel by the end of Afghan year 1393 (1 April 2014–31 March 2015).[25] By September 2015, the number of people employed in mine action for humanitarian purposes had dropped to about 4,000 and the number engaged by Sterling Demining Afghanistan on clearing ERW from ISAF/NATO firing ranges had risen to around 5,000.[26] 

Deminer safety

One deminer was killed and nine injured in demining incidents in 2015 but conflict and criminality took a much higher toll. Eight MAPA personnel were killed and a further 34 were injured in security incidents involving armed criminals as well as armed opposition groups. Another 63 personnel were abducted, although all were eventually released. Additionally, mine action organizations had taken from them a total of 11 vehicles and a range of other equipment, including radios, detectors, GPS devices, helmets, and body armor.[27]

Land Release (Mines)

The amount of land released in 2015 plunged, reflecting a sharp downward trend in the amount of funding for mine action. A total of 37km² was released in 2015, down from 77km² the previous year.

Survey in 2015 (Mines)

Afghanistan started a “Mine and ERW Impact Free Community Survey” (MEIFCS) in 2012, envisaging it would take two years to complete. The survey has found many more communities than in the official gazetteer, which provided the basis for planning, and at the same time has had to contend with less funding, less manpower, and more constraints on access as a result of heightened insecurity. 

In 2015, 14 teams conducted the survey, half the number in the previous year, of which HALO provided 12 teams that visited 2,516 communities in 13 provinces, covering most area in Balkh just north of Kabul and Logar province south of the capital. HALO reported it completed survey of seven districts.[28] FSD provided two teams, working in Badakhshan. In total, the survey covered a total of 4,398 communities, of which only 1,643 were in the gazetteer. Teams canceled 36 hazards covering 2.1km² but also identified 148 additional areas of contamination covering 30.7km².[29]

Mined areas identified in 2015[30]

Note: SHAs = suspected hazardous areas

Clearance in 2015 (Mines)

Operators cleared 35.4km² of mined area in 2015 (see table below), 43% less than the previous year, the third successive year of falling clearance and the lowest result recorded since 2007. The number of antipersonnel mines destroyed was little more than one-third of the previous year’s result, partly an effect of operators moving onto more remote and sparsely contaminated minefields, as well as reduced capacity resulting from funding constraints.[31]

HALO Trust and MDC accounted for more than three-quarters of the total area cleared in 2015. MDC, in addition to humanitarian clearance, continued to work on infrastructure tasks linked to the development of the Aynak copper mine. Four other national operators (ATC, DAFA, MCPA, and OMAR), which have borne the brunt of financial cuts in the past three years, together accounted for 20% of the area cleared in 2015. Only community-based demining in areas of fragile security expanded with the number of teams rising from 24 at the end of 2014 to 49 at the end of 2015.[32]

DDG stood down 13 clearance sections and 130 deminers in response to funding cuts, which resulted in mined area clearance falling by two-thirds from 2014, though it also cleared 1.4km² of battle area and undertook close to two-thirds of the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) tasks called in on a MACCA hotline.[33]

HALO Trust also stood down 11 demining teams in 2015 as a result of a decrease in funding, but with some 2,300 staff it remained much the biggest humanitarian operator in Afghanistan. It cleared only marginally less (2%) area than the previous year as a result of higher productivity and by undertaking more clearance of areas affected by antivehicle mines.[34] 

Mined area clearance in 2015[35]

Note: * APMs = antipersonnel mines; AVM = antivehicle mines; UXO = unexploded ordnance.

Land Release (Cluster Munition Remnants)

No release of areas contaminated by cluster munition remnants occurred in 2015, partly due to insecurity in affected areas and reflecting competing priorities at a time when the mine action program is dealing with a sharp downturn in funding.[37] HALO Trust reported destroying 10 submunitions in the course of mine clearance operations but it did not tackle any cluster munition-contaminated hazardous areas.[38] DDG was also not involved in any cluster munition clearance. National operators did not respond to requests for information about their activities.

Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 Compliance

Under Article 5 of the Mine Ban Treaty (and in accordance with the 10-year extension granted by States Parties in 2009), to destroy all antipersonnel mines in mined areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2023. It is not on track to meet the deadline.

Afghanistan’s Article 5 extension request submitted in 2012 set out a detailed timeline for completing clearance of mined and battle area in 2022 (1401). Afghanistan will miss those targets as a result of a combination of factors, notably a sharp downturn in funding for the MAPA.

Mine clearance in 2010–2015

Other factors adding to uncertainty include continued new discoveries of mined areas, which meant the outstanding area requiring clearance was 11.5km² greater at the end of 2015 than two years earlier, despite clearance of close to 100km² in the interim. Escalating insecurity is also hampering survey and clearance in wider areas.[39] Afghanistan’s 2016−2020 strategic plan also flagged concern that use of PPIEDs, if continued at the same level as in the recent years, could contribute to delays in meeting Afghanistan’s Article 5 deadline. It observed that the continuing conflict prevents clearance of operational items by the MAPA to avoid jeopardizing its status as a neutral actor and because of problems of access to the devices in areas of conflict.[40] 

Convention on Cluster Muntions Article 4 Compliance

Under Article 4 of the Convention on Cluster Munitions, Afghanistan is required to destroy all cluster munition remnants in areas under its jurisdiction or control as soon as possible, but not later than 1 March 2022. Afghanistan can meet this deadline.

Clearance of Afghanistan’s remaining cluster munition-contaminated hazardous areas by its Article 4 deadline is well within the MAPA’s capacity. Afghanistan’s Mine Ban Treaty Article 5 deadline extension request provided for clearance of all ERW, including submunitions, by 2020.[41] However, clearance of cluster munition remnants stalled in 2015 because they are located in areas that were too insecure for operators to access.[42]

In 2015, Afghanistan said that it intended to complete clearance of cluster munition remnants in 2022.[43] Whether it is achieved will depend mainly on factors outside the control of the mine action sector, notably the country’s long-running conflict. The extent of scattered cluster munition remnants suggests operators will continue to encounter residual contamination beyond the Article 4 clearance deadline, even if Afghanistan were to meet it.

The Monitor gratefully acknowledges the contributions of the Mine Action Review supported and published by Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), which conducted mine action research in 2016 and shared it with the Monitor. The Monitor is responsible for the findings presented online and in its print publications.