STORY: Afghans haunted by U.S. cluster bomb attacks more than 20 years ago
DATELINE: July 24, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:37
LOCATION: HERAT, Afghanistan
CATEGORY: SOCIETY
 
SHOTLIST:
1. various of the village
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): BIBI JAN, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
3. SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): BIBI JAN, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
4. various of survivors
5. SOUNDBITE 3 (Dari): NASIR AHMAD, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
6. SOUNDBITE 4 (Dari): MAHIDIN KHAN, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
 
STORYLINE:
 
Bibi Jan is an Afghan woman who lives in the Qala-e-Shatir village of Herat City, west Afghanistan.
 
She still remembers the horrific day in 2001 when the U.S. forces dropped cluster bombs on her poor village.
 
SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): BIBI JAN, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
"It was 2:30 p.m. of the day, second Aqrab (Oct. 24 on the Persian calendar), oh God, it haunts me even at night whenever I remember. I was alive, although my head was bleeding."
 
Jan's daughter was badly injured and her daughter-in-law was killed in the bombardment.
 
SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): BIBI JAN, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
"The children were at home. One's hand was broken, one's leg was wounded, one's head was hurt and another's kidney was injured. Nine people were injured.
My illness is because of this attack. I had bred five orphaned children and sold my land to support them. My son lost half of his foot and could not work.
The day was horrible. From one side there were warplanes, and from the other side the smoke covered everything. We were burned in the fire."
 
The U.S. military in the early days of its so-called war on terror in Afghanistan dropped cluster bombs, an unconventional weapon, in the village, killing and injuring scores of Afghan civilians including Jan's family members.
 
According to the Cluster Munition Coalition, from 2001 to 2002, the U.S. forces dropped 1,228 cluster bombs containing 248,056 bomblets in Afghanistan.
 
SOUNDBITE 3 (Dari): NASIR AHMAD, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
"I was 30 years old then and was at home. My mother was baking naan (Afghan traditional flat bread) and my wife was washing bowls, but suddenly the U.S. planes dropped bombs, killing my wife and injuring eight others.
No one has come to give an apology or compensate the victims."
 
The U.S. warplanes, according to Ahmad, dropped cluster bombs to target the Taliban fighters, who the American forces believed were present in the village, but the victims, including those killed or injured, were all civilians.
 
SOUNDBITE 4 (Dari): MAHIDIN KHAN, Survivor of U.S. cluster bomb attack
"I entered the gate and a powerful wind took me to the ground. After two minutes, I recovered my consciousness and saw woods and everything around me. I felt everything was moving around me.
I got up from the ground. My two children were two years old and three years old respectively, and I took them to my vehicle. But my uncle, my aunt, my cousins, and the daughter-in-law of my aunt were all killed.
Neither the U.S. troops nor others came to ask us about the bombardment. They indiscriminately attacked and went away."
 
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a recent report documented 1,095 civilian deaths and 2,679 injuries in the war-torn country between Aug. 15, 2021, when the Taliban took over power again, and May 30, 2023. Out of the casualties, 639 cases were caused by unexploded ordnance (UXO) or landmines.
 
The International Committee of the Red Cross also pointed out that children are the most vulnerable victims of the UXO. 
 
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Herat, Afghanistan.
(XHTV)