The rush to clear up our mess
New Zealand was slow to react, but finally did the right thing when it left Afghanistan. Eugene Bingham asks whether others will follow suit.
As the winter snow slowly retreated from the hills and villages of Bamiyan province in Afghanistan, a re-energised force stepped once more into the light. Like the rest of the country’s population, the people of this central province with an enduring link to Aotearoa have a wary eye out for the reemergence of the Taliban. Memories of the tyranny they wrought are still fresh, and the thought of what part they may play in the country’s future is terrifying.
But as winter turned to spring last month, it was another force which returned to the old battlefields, one which carried implements and tools, not weapons and bombs.
Clad in body armour and helmets, they were the women and men who have been hired to clear firing ranges used by the New Zealand Provincial Reconstruction Team during its 10-year deployment to Bamiyan.
Following a Stuff Circuit investigation in 2019 highlighting ongoing concerns and harm to civilians, the Defence Force engaged local contractors to clean up the ranges.
Work began last year, and by the end of the year, when the operation had to stop because of heavy snow, it was ahead of schedule, with 22 square kilometres cleared. Almost 700 unexploded ordnance or explosive remnants had been recovered, most believed to have originated with forces other than New Zealand.
Back in Kabul, the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) is pleased with how things are going.
‘‘New Zealand was slow off the mark, but they have done what is required,’’ says the UNMAS programme manager for Afghanistan, Paul Heslop.
He is in awe of the workers. ‘‘They are normal men and women, most of them weren’t military, they’ve just stepped forward to do this, spending days out in the minefields for six to eight hours in hot conditions making their communities safe. They are unsung heroes.’’
But as much as they are pleased with the work in Bamiyan, finally making safe land that has been dangerous for locals for decades, Heslop and his team are furiously at work themselves.
The American-led announcement of the withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan by September has brought with it a renewed urgency about cleaning up firing ranges used by other nations. So UNMAS staff are busy doing the rounds of the embassies, trying to convince countries to do the right thing and make a commitment before they leave.
‘‘No member state has indicated they aren’t going to do it. But the concern is that there are so many things going on,’’ says Heslop.
For the American and Nato troops still in Afghanistan, it’s a big job to pack up after two decades – and there’s not much time to do it.
‘‘If it’s not addressed, as we’ve previously seen, there will be casualties.’’
Heslop’s deputy, Mohammad Wakil Jamshidi, has worked in mine clearance in Afghanistan for 20 years and knows the scale of the task ahead.
From his office in the UN compound in Kabul, an austere prefab building he makes feel homely for guests by serving sweets and chai sabz (Afghan green tea), Jamshidi wades through databases and spreadsheets setting out in cold detail the extent of the problem.
Across the country there are 22 active firing ranges. Another 21 are only partially cleared or have only been assessed – this includes the four in Bamiyan, and a large range in Balkh province (covering 49 sq km) which the German government is negotiating over.
In total, as it stands, about 660 sq km of land used as firing ranges by US and Nato forces remain dangerous.
Those firing ranges have been linked to more than 200 civilian casualties since 2003.
And this is the real fear Jamshidi and Heslop have – the risk to lives, especially once the bases
are abandoned.
‘‘People are more likely to go onto the firing ranges,’’ says Heslop.
‘‘When they’re no longer secured and no longer being used, that allows people access and people are emboldened to go on them.
‘‘One of the real problems is that people are so poor, they are looking for any sort of income, and they go in search of scrap metal.’’
Firing ranges can be littered with scrap metal – some of it, though, is highly dangerous. If a device has not properly detonated or discharged, it is liable to explode, leading to devastating consequences.
In 2014, seven children were killed when it is believed one of them found an unexploded device on a firing range previously used by the New Zealand PRT in Bamiyan.
While it agreed to clean up the range, the Defence Force said it was impossible to know if the device itself was one fired by New Zealand troops, and pointed out that much of the debris found on the range belonged to other forces.
It’s a point other nations may make – how can you know it’s our mess?
But Heslop has no truck with that argument. Standards set by the International Security Assistance Force, the collection of nations which went to Afghanistan from 2001 on, make it clear that the ranges need to be properly cleared of all remnants of war, not just your own. It’s a bit like when you hire a car, says Heslop – you’re responsible for any damage when you take the car back.
Despite the heightened concern and lurking danger, Jamshidi remains hopeful.
He has seen what happens when land is cleared and made safe – making it productive and useful once more.
Like all who live in Afghanistan, of course he worries about what will happen after September, whether the fighting between the Taliban and Government forces will intensify.
But as far as clearance work goes, he points out that even in areas where the Taliban already have control, mine clearance teams have been allowed to cross into Taliban territory to carry out their tasks.
Perhaps the biggest threat to the work is money. UNMAS relies on funding from donor nations, but since the Covid-19 pandemic money has dried up as governments redirect their priorities.
‘‘Our target for funding for Afghanistan was going to be $US50 million,’’ says Heslop.
‘‘At the moment we’re on track for about half of that, and the problem is getting worse.’’
Remnants of war were responsible for 1600 casualties last year, victims in a country littered with danger.
‘‘It’s like being in Belgium and Poland after the World Wars.’’
Since the 1980s, when mine clearance work began in Afghanistan, much has been done. But there is still so much more to do, a task made more urgent, not less, with the withdrawal of foreign troops.
‘‘They are normal men and women... spending days out in the minefields for six to eight hours in hot conditions making their communities safe. They are unsung heroes.’’ Paul Heslop