Demining in Afghanistan

1:39 P.M. EST

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Thank you very much, Peter, for that fine introduction, and good afternoon. Peter is right that we studied together. But I have to correct one thing: I didn't study hard enough to become Dr. Bloomfield. So it's still Mr. Bloomfield. But it's great to see all of you here today. And thank you for your interest.

I would like to talk a little bit about our program in Afghanistan before taking your questions. As you know, Afghanistan remains one of the most mine-affected countries in the world. The most heavily mined areas of the country are the provinces bordering Pakistan and Iran. And what this means is that the most mined areas would include agricultural fields, irrigation canals, grazing areas, the roads and the residential and the commercial areas, airports, power stations and government installations. And although the land mines are still causing an estimated 200 casualties per month, the casualty rate is down approximately 50 percent since 1998.

Now, the most commonly found mines you will see in your press packet a portray of the Soviet-made PMN, which is this one here; the Soviet-made PMN-2, which are both pressure-activated anti-personnel blast mines; and the Soviet PSM-1 butterfly, surface-laid APL blast mine.

Now, the United States first became involved in humanitarian demining in Afghanistan in 1988. And if I am not mistaken, this is the oldest of the programs that are ongoing today around the world. Of the $500 million provided by the United States for humanitarian mine action worldwide since 1993, nearly $28 million has gone to mine action efforts in Afghanistan. In comparison of the $500 million devoted to humanitarian mine actions, other -- let me just list some of the other countries that have received comparable amounts: Bosnia has received over $45 million; Cambodia over $28 million; Angola over $25 million; and Mozambique over $27 million in U.S. assistance. This assistance has funded mine awareness training, mine clearance, minefield surveys and markings and deminer training.

Now, the U.S. provides a large portion of its assistance for humanitarian demining in Afghanistan through the U.N. Office For Coordination Of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan, UNOCHA. In fiscal year 2001, which is continuing on through the continuing resolutions at the moment, the U.S. divided its contribution between UNOCHA and the HALO Trust -- Hazardous Area Life Support Organization, the British NGO specializing in mine and unexploded ordnance clearance. Now, HALO Trust receives its mine clearance taskings from UNOCHA's implementing partner, known as MAPA, the Mine Action Program Afghanistan.

Now, previously, in fiscal year 2000, UNOCHA received $3 million from the U.S., which allowed for the continuation of the mine detection dog program, manual and mechanical clearance operations, mine surveying, and the purchase of additional and replacement demining equipment.

Local and international NGOs are now reconstituting Afghanistan's demining operation in the aftermath of the combat operations, and these teams are now prepared to resume full-scale demining as soon as the security situation permits. Now, the U.S. is in the process of replenishing and restoring equipment and facilities that were left to theft, or were damaged in the fighting from the coalition airstrikes. The average cost to clear a square meter of land in Afghanistan is less than 65 cents. This compares to the average cost of two to three dollars per square meter in other countries. Why is it cheaper? The labor costs are lower in Afghanistan, and there is less technology used in the field. A lot of the demining is done manually and with mine detection dogs in Afghanistan.

The Afghanistan Mine Action Program has a strong indigenous capacity, complemented by a small group of U.N. expatriate staff. Humanitarian demining is the largest single industry in Afghanistan, employing over 4,500 deminers and support staff. The expatriate staff provides managerial and technical oversight to 15 indigenous non- governmental organizations, and coordinates the mine action work of international NGOs, which employ nearly all indigenous personnel. These local and international NGOs also conduct highly effective mine awareness programs in accordance with international standards.

Based on their success at home, the Afghan NGOs have become internationally successful with a great reputation, and they have worked in Yemen as well as in northern Iraq. These local and international NGO accomplishments include mine awareness briefings to more than seven million people in Afghanistan; a lowering of the land mine casualty rate, as I mentioned, by an estimated 50 percent over five years -- not enough, but it's now come down to a reported 2,400 in the year 2000 -- we don't have updated statistics yet; the clearing of 224 square kilometers of high priority mine-infested land, and 321 square kilometers of former battlefield areas, all done by indigenous deminers. This is since MAPA began its operations in 1988-89, with U.S. support. They have also destroyed an estimated 210,000 land mines, and 985,000 pieces of unexploded ordnance. Over 30 square kilometers of mine fields and 35 square kilometers of unexploded ordnance are cleared every year in Afghanistan. It's the highest rate of land reclamation in the world. They have the largest mine- detecting dog program in the world, with full veterinary and breeding support; indeed, 40 percent of the world's mine-detection dogs are in Afghanistan. A training center and field-based system of inspections and retraining ensures adherence to established mine action standards. And there is a full network of local field hospitals with trauma specialists and surgeons -- these are Afghans. There are explosive ordnance disposal teams able to destroy or disarm a wide range of Soviet-era munitions, in addition to the ones I showed you.

Now, as for the United States, we are planning to help MAPA meet it's most pressing increased needs, including those in the north and northeast, where demining has already resumed. And I dare say there is a bit of a race against the weather in the north. In fiscal year 2002, the State Department plans to allocate $7.03 million to support various mine action activities in Afghanistan. Overall, the assistance strategy for Afghanistan during 2002 consists of direct U.S. assistance spread over four phases.

The first phase is training and clearance, which is ongoing. There is a direct grant totaling $3.2 million which is to be allocated to the HALO Trust -- this is up from $1.2 million from the State Department in fiscal year 2001. The HALO Trust has already recommenced operations in the north and northeast sections of the country. You may have seen a feature in today's New York Times.

With the increase of funds, HALO Trust will hire, train, equip and employ approximately 800 additional mine clearance and logistics personnel. This is additional to the 4,500 indigenous deminers in Afghanistan; HALO Trust already employs 1,200 deminers with U.S. financial support. So this will go to 2,000 under HALO Trust.

HALO teams will also conduct surveys in assigned provinces.

They'll train indigenous mine clearance personnel with an emphasis on new types of unexploded ordnance; i.e., coalition strikes -- the remnants of the war just wrapping up. Priority clearance sites include roads, key infrastructure, residential areas and other areas used by agencies conducting humanitarian operations. And, finally, this grant will cover the procurement of mine detectors, protective equipment, radios and vehicles that will support HALO Trust teams operational costs, such as salaries, food, fuel, facilities and other consumable items. This expansion of HALO Trust's operations is in response to a request from the director of NAPA, Dan Kelly (ph).

Now, phase two of our program for 2002 is planning and management, starting this month through February of 2002. This portion of the plan FY 2002 allocation totals $30,000, and will provide immediate technical program planning and managerial support to MAPA. At the request of the MAPA program director, the State Department has dispatched it is program manager for Afghanistan, Richard Stickels, to Pakistan -- he is there now -- to provide immediate support for the next 60 days. I should tell you that the U.S. program from Afghanistan is run from Islamabad in Pakistan. At least one additional State Department officer will be dispatched as well, if the program manager requests further technical assistance. Now, visits to Afghanistan by State Department advisors will be taken as required and as allowed by our regional security officer, who is an embassy specialist located in Islamabad.

The third phase of the U.S. program for the coming fiscal year is land mine and unexploded ordnance removal. This is from January 2002 through June. This phase three funding will total approximately $3.1 million. This supports salaries and expense costs for our contractor, RONCO, that -- RONCO has a cadre of 15 personnel, and will sustain their activities for a period of six months, including provision of vehicles and other equipment. RONCO technical advisors will be assigned to each of the five regional offices in Afghanistan, to train Afghan mine clearance personnel and field managers on the removal of land mine and unexploded ordnance that may be unfamiliar to Afghan deminers, such as the cluster bomblets from American airstrikes and coalition airstrikes.

One of the experts will also review the status of the mine detection dog program in Afghanistan, to ascertain requirements for further enhancements to the mine dog capability. The State Department will provide on an in-kind basis major equipment necessary to support a restart of land mine and unexploded ordnance clearance operations by these local Afghan NGOs. And this equipment will include vehicles, such as trucks and ambulances, radios, mine detectors, and personal blast protection equipment.

And, finally, phase four, the mine risk education part of our program, which will run from February through the end of next year. Approximately $700,000 of the State Department package is geared to fund mine risk education initiatives which will be carried out via a grant to UNICEF. Save the Children, a U.S. NGO, and several local Afghan NGOs, will receive funding through UNICEF to disseminate the mine awareness message to the local Afghan population.

So there's a brief summary of our program. And that concludes my briefing. I'll be glad to answer any questions you may have.

MODERATOR: Okay, questions. Thank you.

Q Hitoshi Omae, Nikkei Newspaper, Japanese daily newspaper. By the way, my colleague Steve Keefe says hello to you.

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Thank you.

Q Secretary, responding -- do you say estimate the number of mines nationwide in Afghanistan, is the number one question. And also, for the demining program, do you have any expectations particularly to Japan?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Well, let me refer to my team for the current estimate of how many mines. I know the estimate varies. But --

MR. : The estimates range from a low of 500,000 to anywhere around to 10 to 12 million.

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Five hundred thousand to anywhere as many as 10 to 12 million. Let me just say a word, if I may, about Japan. My answer draws more on my experience personally in dealing with Japan, officially as well as a private citizen. And since I am new to the special representative portfolio, I hope you'll forgive that I have not yet engaged your government on this subject. I look forward to doing so.

It seems to me that Japan has been a very forthright and responsive international citizen when it comes to compelling humanitarian needs in the world. Japan was very quick to respond after the call went out for pledges of funding to rebuild and reconstitute Afghanistan a few months ago. And that signal of support from Japan I think encouraged many other governments to do the same. So it was very important.

In the area of mine action, and specifically the demining activities in Afghanistan, we are hopeful that Japan will take a very close interest in this activity, and the U.S. government -- I speak certainly for the U.S. government in saying we are very interested in working with the Japanese government to explore ways to work together to that end.

Q Secretary, my name is Ryochi Nishida; I am the correspondent of the Japanese daily newspaper called the Sankei. Secretary, could you kindly tell us how difficult it is to demine the land mines that are buried in Afghanistan? How different are they -- how different is the situation as opposed to the situation of other countries, land mine infested countries? And, secondly, is it difficult to demine those Soviet Union-made land mines?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: My answer would have to be a general one, because I have not personally engaged in the demining function. But I would tell you this: Mines are made of many different materials. The ones that have a metal content are easier to detect; that's why the United States in Geneva this month, with a convention on conventional weapons, has been trying to promote the idea of higher standards and metal and detectability in anti-vehicle mines, precisely so they will not elude the demining function. Indeed, professional military organizations are supposed to mark mine fields, and supposed to clean mine fields after they are finished with the military function. And they are also -- the biggest threat are mines that remain a persistent threat, long after the guns have fallen silent, so that the United States has been moving very much away from persistent mines and has only in its stockpile mines which expire in a very short time, and do not retain any capability of harming civilians long after operations are finished.

I think you will find in some places in the world -- Southeast Asia being an example -- there are a lot of home-made mines which are made entirely of natural materials. These are a terrible threat, as the Cambodian people have found out. There are some other areas, such as Mozambique where heavy rains have washed mines far from where they were originally laid. So even if there were information that might have helped deminers to locate and to manage this threat to the civilian population, it's been frustrated by the natural elements. I think the same is true in Central America, with some of the recent natural disasters that they have had. So there are all manner of challenges that face demining.

In Afghanistan the terrain is very rough, and yet some of these mines are in obvious places; others are not. They are in the middle of fields which are being -- trying to be reclaimed for agriculture. At a time when a good part of the Afghan population has been undernourished and was facing large-scale starvation, until the humanitarian food operations began in earnest two or three months ago. Hopefully the criticality of their need for food has alleviated. I think it's a big challenge. It's a big effort, and the experts say it is going to take many years to get the number of civilian casualties anywhere down to zero, which is our goal.

MODERATOR: Ben.

Q Thank you. My name is Ben Bangoa (ph), Guinea News, Washington -- (inaudible). How successful have you been in countries like Angola, Mozambique and Sierra Leone -- compare with Afghanistan for instance?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: I might ask my colleagues to try to make a comparison. At the mention of Angola, I think the first and most important task is to stop the conflict. The worst thing that can happen is a situation where mines are continuing to be laid. So that's the first. How can you save people from sinking in a boat if people are still putting holes in a boat? But let me ask my colleagues for a judgment to compare.

Pat, do you have a view?

MR. PATIERNO: I would say -- (off mike) -- around the world. In Cambodia, the casualty rate has dropped by nearly 90 percent in the last five years. This is as much the credit for the very successful mine risk education programs as it is for actual mine clearance. In Rwanda, that country has cleared 75 percent of its known mine fields. In Namibia, that country has basically declared itself impact free from land mines, although there are now some reports of mines being laid from the Angolan warring factions coming over the border. In Central America, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala are likely to declare themselves impact free within the next year. In -- we're not in Sierra Leone. I know that there's a serious problem there, but we have not had an opportunity to engage in Sierra Leone as of yet.

As we move towards the Balkans, Croatia has developed one of the mine action centers in the world. There is a Slovenian International Trust Fund for Demining that has taken a leading role in that region and has attracted a number of donors, including the United States, to provide assistance to that area of the world. Bosnia has over 1,500 trained and certified deminers, and they are making slow but steady progress.

So, there are a number of successes around the world that the international community can be proud it has played a part in.

Q (Off-mike.)

MR. PATIERNO: Oh, the previous question? The difficulty about mining --

Q -- comparatively --

MR. PATIERNO: Well, one of the major problems in Afghanistan is, and I think the assistant secretary alluded to this somewhat, is that there is no real strategic pattern of mine laying going on in Afghanistan. When we talk about mine laying in the traditional sense, so to speak, it is armies mapped and marked where they placed those mines. That is not happening in Afghanistan, so it's very, very difficult to know where those mines are.

In terms of any more technological challenges in Afghanistan, I would have to say that Afghanistan would not support -- the infrastructure in Afghanistan would not support the introduction of some of these heavier technologies from these big machines that roll over land mines and cause them to explode. Some smaller technologies, yes, they would support, but the sheer number of mines in Afghanistan compares to that of Angola and creates a huge problem -- yet, they do have 4,500 mine clearance personnel, which is the largest demining contingent in the world, and they have made extraordinary progress in start of those challenges.

MR. BLOOMFIELD: That's Pat Patierno. Pat is the director of humanitarian demining programs in the Bureau of Political and Military Affairs at the State Department. I think it's fair to say -- I think it's important to look at the history wherein, with 140,000 Soviet Red Army troops invading the country and the resistance effort to that has created a lot of patterns of booby traps and mines and a horrendous problem. And then, of course, the factional wars between Taliban and those who were resisting them, and that has created patterns of booby traps as well as securing certain areas from passage, one against the other, that have -- that have a very chaotic and unpredictable map of the mine problem in Afghanistan.

Q Thomas Gorguissian, of the Egypt Al Wafd. You've mentioned, you describe a chaotic map of mining. Can you at least give us an idea where the most dense places? And the second question is somehow related. Still fighting is going on. When you are going to start the whole process of demining? And is demining include -- I assume that it includes the cluster bombs remnants of whatever is leftover of that? And do you think that -- what is 4,500 plus 800 you said, I think, is enough to complete the process? And do you have any time frame?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Those are all excellent questions -- no, they are, because they touch on large scale ways of framing our effort.

I would start, in terms of where is the problem worst, I think if you go to the north and the east and look at the -- between Kabul to the north and the border areas towards Pakistan, that is an area of transit and resupply and last lines of defense, if you go back to the conflict that I cited before. I think the Iranian border area to the west, southwest, is also the other heavily mined area. That said, we're all now familiar with the sort of ring road that circles the major cities of Afghanistan, and I'll go over and just point to it. In each of these places, you have airports, you have key infrastructure, you have critical places where -- of passage, so that if you were going to move, for example, Soviet tanks in the 1980s, you need those roads, and those are the areas in the urban environment which are also heavily mined. There are probably also other patterns of mining that have to do with places of retreat and surprise. Look at the tactics that have been employed by these local fighters and the fighting culture, and that makes it unpredictable.

As for whether, to your last question, whether this is enough, I think the principle that appeals to us in the U.S. is trying to go at a pace which works for the Afghan people. I suppose one could always try to mobilize a lot more demining expertise and bring it into the country, but right now the Afghan deminers themselves know what they're doing, and they're quite renowned, and quite well -- they've acquitted themselves very well. And so I think the thought is to try to build capacity at a rate that the Afghan people can sustain. The fact of the matter is, there are internally displaced persons who had run away from the perceived dangers of the recent conflict and who now want to get home, and so there's a lot of movement of people. Winter is coming on in greater and greater measure throughout the north and the high areas. So, there's quite a bit of urgency to make sure that the mine problem does not become one more burden upon the populations, particularly those that are moving, and we're conscious of that. And so we feel a great deal of pressure, as does, I think, the international community, to respond in a very timely way. We have military specialists in Afghanistan now, in Mazar-e-Sharif, in Bagram and Kandahar, for example, who are conducting unexploded ordinance clearing, including any mines they find.

So, as for the issue of the coalition air strikes and any kind of cluster munitions that may remain, we are there already, in some capacity, trying to educate and address the problem directly.

You've also raised the larger issue of the direction of the effort and the other questions point to more of a worldwide approach. And as the new special representative, I can only tell you that I will be looking to my team and to the international community to try to harmonize efforts, our financial planning, the sort of roles that each takes on, so that we're not duplicating efforts and we're not applying resources to lower priorities. The idea is to alleviate the threat, the humanitarian threat to civilians from these mines and unexploded ordinance. And to the extent that we can bound the problem, prioritize the effort and harmonize our efforts with other players in the international realm, private and public, I think that's a task that I intend to apply a lot of energy to so as to hasten the day when we can reduce these casualties rates as close to zero as possible.

Q Tushinski (ph) Navy News and Undersea Technology -- (inaudible) -- Publishing. I wanted to know, since the recent war in Afghanistan with the United States, how much bigger is the threat of mines because of the war, and in terms of numbers, and money towards it, and how is your organization, or your organization's working with the military to demine?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Let me make sure I understand the question. You're talking about the Afghanistan mine problem and the recent three months of conflict. Well, speaking for the U.S. and coalition effort, we have not increased the mine problem by a single mine. And so, it would be -- as you know, there is unexploded ordinance from the air strikes. The numbers are vastly higher in the Balkans, for example, than they are in Afghanistan -- I mean, an order of magnitude higher from the Kosovo air campaign.

Q (Inaudible.)

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Yes, there is unexploded ordinance due to the coalition air strikes.

Q How much?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: As I was saying, it's an order of magnitude less than what the Balkans has been coping with since the Kosovo campaign.

Q So you have numbers, or --

MR. BLOOMFIELD: It would only be based on estimates of dud rates, and which -- which are probably very low. The point is that these munitions very likely exploded on impact, but clearly there are some that remain. We think that the numbers, while a danger, can be addressed urgently. And that's why we have, I believe CENCOM has people on the scene right now to try to help address that danger.

Q (Inaudible) -- or is it separate, or how does that work?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Well, the demining activities are really handled in and of themselves. The demining program community obviously liaises in a large-scale way with any other activity that could pose a risk. We have to make judgments as to whether it's safe to have deminers to go a certain area and go to work. So, there are risk assessments that require an overall judgment from people who are aware of the military safety judgments. And those judgments in part come from the U.S. military -- not exclusively.

MODERATOR: We have time for one more question.

Q (Inaudible) -- critics that argue there's a slight discrepancy between all the money you're pumping into humanitarian demining programs and the U.S. refusal to sign the treaty banning land mines?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Well, as for the latter part of the question, there is a policy review underway. And until such time as the administration has had an opportunity to work its way through all of the issues, I really can't comment, nor do I know how it will come out. I don't think that the impulse to address the humanitarian burden of land mines needs to be in any way diminished by any other consideration. It is an urgent and important activity, and the U.S., I think, has no hesitation, regardless of politics, in trying to do all that it can to work with the international community and to work directly to address the problem. And so I find -- I think if you check on Capitol Hill, you'll see that there is strong bipartisan support to address the humanitarian consequences of the land mine problem.

Q You mentioned the policy review. Have you gotten any indication of when that might be completed?

MR. BLOOMFIELD: It's a fair question, and unfortunately I don't. But I intend to find out soon. It's a valid question.

MODERATOR: Well, thank you very much, Assistant Secretary Bloomfield. And always welcome here, your avenue to the foreign press. And thank you ladies and gentlemen, and wishing you happy holidays in case we don't see each other again before New Years.

MR. BLOOMFIELD: Thank you very much.

END.

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