Afghan de-miners cling to hard but much-needed jobs
KABUL — Afghans who scratch out a living by removing some of the country’s countless land mines have long had to contend with rugged terrain, accidental explosions and the threat of kidnapping — but these days they face the added risk of being laid off.
A financial crisis in recent years has forced the country to cut back on efforts to remove explosives left over from decades of conflict — buried bombs that kill and maim dozens of people every month and render precious farming and grazing land unusable.
Wali Mohammad, a 32-year-old de-miner, spends long hours roaming the mountains south of Kabul, looking for mines left over from the Soviet occupation in the 1980s. Like other de-miners, he wears a protective helmet and visor as well as gloves to protect his hands from snakes and scorpions.
The painstaking work pays $300 a month, barely enough to support his wife and eight children, who live as refugees in neighbouring Pakistan. “Whenever I go home I ask for (my family’s) forgiveness, because it is a dangerous job and anything can happen at any time,” he said.