UN Warns Cuts to Demining Funds Are Keeping Explosion Risk Alive in Afghanistan
The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has warned that reduced financial support for demining projects has made the danger of explosive remnants of war a daily threat to civilians in Afghanistan.
In a report issued today (Wednesday, 15 Mizan), OCHA said children accounted for 78% of casualties from explosions involving remnants of past wars between 1 January and the end of August this year.
The agency added that despite the high level of risk, funding for demining programmes has declined, and continued work on these projects is facing a severe shortage of resources.
According to the OCHA report, of the $14.5 million needed under the 2026 Humanitarian Response Plan, only $4.3 million has been secured, leaving the demining programme with a funding gap of $10.2 million.
Olga Cherefko, an OCHA staff member, said in the report: “Afghanistan has a landscape that appears normal and safe, but beneath the surface there are objects hidden that can cause death or amputation.” She added that these items may have been left behind decades ago or in recent years in different areas.
Cherefko, who observed a controlled detonation of an 1980s-era bomb in Zhari district of Kandahar province, said the bomb had been identified by a local resident two days before it was neutralised.
In OCHA’s video report, she stressed that reduced funding for demining means people are forced to live with a threat that cannot be seen, and that sustained financial support is needed to fully clear unexploded ordnance so farmers can move safely in their fields and children can play in a secure environment.
