Afghan de-mining threatened by international pullout

AFGHANISTAN: Since Haji Abdul Samad lost his leg in a minefield more than 20 years ago, he has unearthed at least 1,000 explosives and become one of Afghanistan's most experienced de-miners. "After my accident, I told myself that I had to do work to save lives. I had to clean the rivers, hills, villages," Samad, who was fighting against the Soviets when he stepped on a mine in 1989, told AFP.

"But I'm not afraid of mines," he added, at a site being cleared outside the capital Kabul, ahead of the UN International Day for Mine Awareness on Thursday. "I will continue to work as long as even just one remains in the country," he vowed. Samad, a father of eight children originally from the southern city of Kandahar, is part of the huge de-mining effort taking place in Afghanistan, which is dotted with minefields after decades of conflict.

AFP