An irresponsible withdrawal

Half of 240 ranges will be handed over to Afghan army, but fate of rest, whether they will be cleared, remains unknown

International security forces are set to leave Afghanistan by the end of the year. As US and coalition militaries ship out their hardware and troops, and shut the military bases they used since the Afghan conflict began 12 years ago, we would, at least, expect that they do so in a  responsible manner. However, when it comes to demining and clearing unexploded ordnance, this is definitely not the case. It has been reported that US and Nato forces used 240 high-explosive ranges since the Afghan conflict began, some of which measure as big as small cities. Not only this, many of the ranges are situated near small towns and villages, presenting a clear and present danger for those residents living in the vicinity. The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre has recorded 70 fatalities (88 per cent were children) since 2012 in and around these firing ranges, which were not only used for target practice, but also for larger scale military exercises involving helicopters firing rockets.

So far, only three per cent of the 800 square miles of territory currently mined and peppered with unexploded ordnance has been cleaned up. This includes a 60 square-mile-area from which 32,000 pieces of ordnance were removed. Going by this ratio, the actual number of live rounds lying around unprotected elevates to nightmarish amounts. Though half of the 240 ranges will be handed over to the Afghan army, the fate of the rest of them, and whether they will be cleared, remains unknown. The funding for this task has not been issued due to the lack of planning. A US military official explained that since they were at war, ‘they didn’t have time for this’. And considering that the military drawdown is well underway and the US has shuttered half of its 880 bases in Afghanistan, there isn’t sufficient manpower for this daunting task. Afghanistan and this region have suffered dearly from unending conflict in that country for more than three decades and it must be ensured that the legacy of this does not continue to haunt the Afghans even after foreign troops depart.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2014.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.