KABUL, July 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority and the Hazardous Area Life-support Organization (HALO Trust) have formalized a Memorandum of Understanding valued at 4.85 million U.S. dollars to intensify demining operations and mine-risk education across several provinces.
The agreement will support comprehensive activities, including explosive ordnance risk education, technical surveys, explosive ordnance disposal, and large-scale clearance of mines, improvised explosive devices, anti-tank mines, and other explosive remnants of war, the authority announced on Wednesday.
The project aims to reduce civilian casualties, enhance public safety, and restore contaminated land for productive use, said the authority.
Funded by Norway over four years, the initiative will target the provinces of Ghazni, Kandahar, Zabul, Helmand, Herat, Logar, Paktika and Laghman. Under the project, more than 11.1 million square meters of mine-contaminated land will be cleared, directly and indirectly benefiting some 32,600 people, the authority added.
According to Afghanistan's National Disaster Management Authority, the country cleared explosive hazards from 58 square kilometers of land in 2025. However, more than 106,000 square kilometers of the country's territory remain contaminated with mines and unexploded ordnance.
Long plagued by conflict, Afghanistan is among the world's most heavily mine-contaminated countries, with dozens of civilians, many of whom are children, killed or maimed each month.
The United Nations recently ranked the country third globally in casualties caused by landmines and explosive remnants of war. ■
