Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Kabul (BNA) The British Ambassador to Kabul, Dominic Jermey and state Minister of the National Disaster Management Agency, Wais Barmak, visited the HALO TRUST Headquarter in Kabul here yesterday to launch a further phase of the UK’s life-saving support to demining in Afghanistan, a press release from UK embassy in Kabul said.
The project launched yesterday would clear over 9.6 million square meters of land in six provinces of Logar, Khost, Samangan, Balkh, Baghlan and Kabul. “Not only will the project clear the land from brutal mines and the dangerous explosive remnants of war, but it will also provide development assistance to ensure that over 100 000 people from local communities can swiftly return their newly-cleared lands to agricultural cultivation and production, the press release added, saying through assistance with irrigation, infrastructure and agricultural techniques, local communities would once again be free of the dangers of mines and can prosper from the use of their community lands. According to the embassy, the project demonstrates just one part of the UK’s long-term and determined commitment to help the Afghan government make Afghanistan free of the scourge of mines by 2023. Since 2008, the UK has helped clear land in Herat, Helmand and Kandahar. “I’m extremely proud that today we’re launching a program, with the Afghan government and the HALO Trust, to clear 9.6 million square meters of land in Afghanistan. This project is in addition to over 84 million square meters of land which UK support has already helped clear. I’m delighted that, through this new program we will not just rid the land of the scourge of past conflicts and remove such horrific harm to innocent children, women and men but our development assistance will help over 100 000 Afghans to once again prosper from the cultivation and development of their fields”, ambassador Dominic said. Meanwhile Wais Barmak, State Minister for Disaster Management and Humanitarian Affairs, said that ensuring the land of Afghan people is safe from the remnants of war is an absolute priority for the Afghan government. “All Afghan people are extremely heartened to see this ongoing commitment from the United Kingdom to support mine clearance, risk education and development of the cleared land, in our rural communities. The impact it will have, not just in keeping our children free from harm, but also in increasing agricultural production and livelihoods, is enormous,” the minister said as quoted in the press release.
