Commitment to the Mine Ban Treaty

Policy

The Islamic Republic of Afghanistan acceded to the Mine Ban Treaty on 11 September 2002, becoming a State Party on 1 March 2003. It has not adopted national implementation legislation.[1] Afghanistan submitted its eighth Article 7 transparency report covering calendar year 2009.[2]

Afghanistan participated in the Second Review Conference of the Mine Ban Treaty in Cartagena, Colombia in November–December 2009, making statements on victim assistance and mine clearance, as well as during the high-level segment. Afghanistan also attended the June 2010 intersessional Standing Committee meetings in Geneva, making statements on victim assistance, mine clearance, and cooperation and assistance.

Afghanistan signed the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) in April 1981, but has never ratified it, and thus is not a party to the CCW or its protocols on mines and explosive remnants of war.

Production, transfer, stockpile destruction, and discoveries

Afghanistan is not known to have ever produced or exported antipersonnel mines. Throughout many years of armed conflict, large numbers of mines from numerous sources were sent to various fighting forces in Afghanistan. There have been no confirmed reports of outside supply of antipersonnel mines to non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in recent years.

Afghanistan reported that it completed its stockpile destruction obligation in October 2007,[3] eight months after its treaty-mandated deadline of 1 March 2007.[4] It is unclear how many stockpiled mines Afghanistan had destroyed at the time it declared completion of the program.  It reported that as of April 2007, it had destroyed 486,226 stockpiled antipersonnel mines,[5] and later reported that in calendar year 2007, it destroyed 81,595 antipersonnel mines.[6] How many of those were found and destroyed after the October 2007 declaration of completion is not known.

In its latest Article 7 report, Afghanistan indicated that an additional 4,392 antipersonnel mines were discovered and destroyed during calendar year 2009. This included 2,006 Iranian-produced YM-1 mines.[7] The mines were destroyed at 103 events in 21 provinces, all by open detonation.[8] The type and number of mines destroyed in each location, and the dates of destruction, have been recorded in detail in the Article 7 report.[9] These mines were either recovered during operations, turned in during disarmament programs, or discovered and turned in by civilians.[10]

Afghanistan had reported the discovery and destruction of 62,498 antipersonnel mines during 2008.[11]

Mines retained for training and development

Afghanistan reported that at the end of 2009, it retained a total of 2,618 antipersonnel mines for training purposes.[12]  This was the same number and types of antipersonnel mines as the previous year.  In June 2010, a representative of the Mine Action Coordination Center for Afghanistan (MACCA) told Landmine and Cluster Munition Monitor that all the mines Afghanistan has retained are fuzeless, and that Afghanistan retains no live mines for training. He said the number of mines has remained the same because the mines are not being destroyed, but are being used to train mine detection dogs.[13]

As in previous Article 7 reports, Afghanistan stated, “MACCA uses retained antipersonnel mines in its test centers in Kabul, Logar, Herat, Kunduz, Jalalabad and Kandahar to accredit the mine detection dogs of implementing partners…The implementing partners, under the oversight of MACCA, use antipersonnel mines for training of their mine detection dogs and deminers.” It also noted that MACCA “stores mines that may be needed for testing and accreditation in the future in a secured bunker.”[14]

Use

Although the conflict in Afghanistan intensified and spread greatly in 2009, with the highest number of civilian casualties recorded since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, neither Afghan nor Coalition forces are reported to have used antipersonnel mines.

Non-state armed groups

As the level of insurgent activity has increased sharply, there has also been a notable increase in the number of reports of use of antipersonnel mines and victim-activated improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Afghanistan.

However, as in past years, the vast majority of reported attacks with explosive devices did not involve victim-activated antipersonnel mines, even though media reports frequently attributed attacks to “landmines.” Use of victim-activated IEDs is prohibited by the Mine Ban Treaty, because they function like antipersonnel mines, but use of command-detonated IEDs is not.  On its website, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (Taliban) claimed responsibility for an extensive number of attacks against military personnel and vehicles using command-detonated IEDs.[15]

The UN noted that anti-government forces principally targeted Afghan and international forces with IEDs, but that “the placement of IEDs and the location of suicide attacks often resulted in large numbers of civilians being killed. Many IEDs (both remote controlled and trigger detonated) are placed along roads heavily used by civilian vehicles and pedestrians.” In 2009, the UN registered 1,054 civilians as victims of IEDs used by opposition forces.[16]

Although most attacks involve command-detonated IEDs, there are a growing number of reports and allegations of use of antipersonnel landmines and victim-activated IEDs by the Taliban. In September 2009, United States forces in northwest Kandahar province reportedly said that widespread use by the Taliban of victim-activated IEDs was leading to one of the highest US casualty rates of any area in Afghanistan or Iraq.[17]

A sampling of other examples follow: In April 2009, a US soldier was killed when he reportedly stepped on an IED activated by a pressure plate.[18] In July 2009, two Australian soldiers were killed and three Afghan civilians injured when a soldier reportedly stepped on an antipersonnel mine that then initiated a more powerful IED.[19] In October 2009, a Canadian soldier was killed after reportedly stepping on a homemade landmine 10km from Kandahar City.[20] In November 2009 in Helmand province, a US military engineer was killed after reportedly stepping on a pressure plate IED while on patrol.[21]

In January 2010, US Attorney General Eric Holder decided the military should prosecute an Afghan detainee held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba for allegedly hiding and storing mines to be used against US forces in Afghanistan.[22]

There were some media reports of International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan forces recovering antipersonnel mines. In December 2009, Afghan forces recovered 90 antipersonnel mines in Nawzad district, Helmand province.[23] Also in December, Afghan forces recovered 40 antipersonnel mines, and other weapons, from a cache 80km north of Kabul.[24] In January 2010, Afghan forces recovered 54 antipersonnel mines among 30 tons (30,000kg) of other weapons in Badakhshan province.[25] In February 2010, US forces involved in fighting near Marjah, Helmand province, discovered an IED factory with about 200 pressure plates, antipersonnel mines, and antitank mines.[26] In March 2010, Afghan forces recovered 50 tons (50,000kg) of weapons, including an undetermined number of mines, in Shindand district,  Herat province.[27] In May 2010, ISAF forces recovered three antipersonnel mines in Helmand province.[28]