KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban-controlled Bakhtar News Agency reported that a mortar shell explosion in Afghanistan’s eastern Logar province resulted in the deaths of four children and injured another.
According to the news agency, the incident occurred on Friday, July 5, in the provincial capital of Pol-e-Alam while the children were playing with the unexploded shell.
The news agency quoted Ahmadullah Anas, the spokesperson for the Taliban police command in Logar, stating that the mortar shell had been left in the area from past years.
Afghanistan is among the countries with the most unexploded land mines and other ordnance from decades of war and conflict, particularly the Taliban’s insurgency over the past two decades.
The UN says that roughly two-thirds of Afghanistan’s 401 districts are affected by explosives. Additionally, approximately 3 million people live within a 1 km radius of mines, improvised explosive devices, and other remnants of war.
“Households dependent on agriculture-based livelihoods, including farmers, shepherds, and herders, are particularly at risk from the threat posed by explosive hazards,” the UN said, adding that returnee populations are more vulnerable due to their lack of knowledge of the area.
Children are particularly vulnerable to fatal or life-changing injuries as they unintentionally step on landmines or pick up unexploded ordnance littered around the places they stay or play.
UNICEF says that children make up about 85% of the casualties due to war-related explosive ordnance in Afghanistan. “In 2022, more than 700 children were killed or maimed because of unexploded ordnance and war remnants. An average of two children every day!” the UN agency said.
The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan and its subsequent restrictions on women and girls have caused many donor countries and organizations, including many mine clearance organizations, to cease operations and withdraw funding.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has previously said that insufficient funding has significantly hampered landmine clearance efforts in Afghanistan.
“The dramatic drop in resources and funding had an equally dramatic impact on efforts to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance,” the ICRC asserted. “There is, however, still a desperate need for the international community to provide technical and financial assistance to reduce the number of human casualties caused by unexploded devices,” it added.
