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The presence of landmines and unexploded ordnance is one element of a multi-faceted, humanitarian emergency affecting the Afghan people. In 2024 around 23 million people - over half the population require humanitarian assistance.

Hunger is made worse by the presence of landmines, improvised explosive devices and other unexploded hazards. Multiple phases of conflict from 1979 to 2021 have all left their dangers behind. Desperation forces families to risk farming dangerous land or to earn an income from selling the explosive remnants of the fighting as scrap metal. 

There have been 3,000 civilian casualties in the last three years – half of them children. This is likely to be an underreported figure.

In addition, Afghanistan is one of the countries hit hardest by the impact of climate change, which has sparked unpredictable weather patterns, leading to frequent disasters such as flash floods, landslides, unseasonal snow storms and droughts. Millions of Afghans risk losing their livestock, crops and livelihoods.

Increasingly HALO is being asked to use its logistics and staff capacity to respond to natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods. In May 2024, the northern, northeastern, and western provinces of Afghanistan were severely affected by flash floods. Hundreds of lives were lost, critical infrastructure was severely damaged, and homes and agricultural lands were submerged. HALO, as part of its mission to protect people responded to the emergency by providing aid to the most affected families. 

HALO has worked in Afghanistan since 1988 and our programme is completely Afghan led. By prioritising local recruitment, our multi-ethnic workforce is able to work across the country and provide much needed economic assistance through employment. We currently employ over 2,000 staff, supporting 20,000-plus dependents. HALO's female staff are back at work in our mixed-gender Explosive Risk Education (EORE) teams, providing life-saving risk education on dangerous explosive items to women and girls as well as boys and men.

HALO Afghanistan has cleared and released as safe to communities 1,346km2 (332,000 acres) the equivalent to just under 20,000 football pitches. Since the fighting in 2021 a key task has been clearing landmines and improvised devices from around schools and clinics so that they can reopen. Since 2018 HALO has destroyed over 6800 improvised explosive devices (IEDs). HALO is also providing safe clearance to scrap-metal smelting factories where unexploded munitions are a major hazard.

In total, HALO has destroyed 824,000 landmines and almost one million pieces of unexploded ordnance, our work has benefitted 17.2 million Afghans – equivalent to around one-third of the population of the country.

Over the past three decades, HALO and the Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan have made safe almost 80 per cent of the country’s recorded minefields and battlefields. In , we spearheaded one of the biggest urban clearance operations since WWII, allowing a city decimated by war to rebuild. , including land around the 15^th Century Minarets of the Husain Baiqara Madrasa. Across rural districts we have made land safe so farmers can grow crops and graze cattle. We remain committed to supporting the people of Afghanistan to make their country safe.

Aashir* lives in Helmand Province, near Lashkar Gah City. During the fight for control of Afghanistan earlier this year, his village became an attacking point towards the capital, and he was forced to flee with his family. When the fighting ended the school, roads and fields were strewn with explosives. With no-where else to go, people were so desperate to return home that there were terrible accidents.

HALO came to the village and taught emergency risk education, ensuring people could stay safe until clearance work was completed. Today the explosives have been destroyed and the villagers have been able to return to their lives and livelihoods.

*Names have been changed to protect people's identity.