STORY: U.S.-left unexploded ordnance still claiming lives of Afghans
DATELINE: Aug. 27, 2023
LENGTH: 00:03:14
LOCATION: FARAH ROD, Afghanistan
CATEGORY: SOCIETY

SHOTLIST: 
1. various of the views in Farah Rod
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): KHUDAI RAHIM, Father of the victims
3. various of the views in Farah Rod
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): KHUDAI RAHIM, Father of the victims
5. various of the views in Farah Rod
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Pashto): SAMIULLAH, Brother of victim
7. various of the views in Farah Rod
8. SOUNDBITE 4 (Pashto): MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM, Victim of UXO

STORYLINE:

Khudai Rahim, 54, is a resident of Rigretion village in Farah Rod district, Farah Province of Afghanistan.

He lost two sons in blasts of unexploded ordnance (UXO) in 2021, and his third son was severely injured in a mine blast in 2022 just around their village.
  
SOUNDBITE 1 (Dari): KHUDAI RAHIM, Father of the victims
"He (the third son) found a mine. It might be a mortar mine, and he played with it. He was a child and didn't know what that was, but the object exploded and badly injured his belly."

The last soldier of the U.S.-led forces left Afghanistan in late August 2021 after 20 years of military occupation, but the UXO left over from the U.S. troops have been claiming the lives of Afghans for years or even decades.
   
Rahim told Xinhua that he had spent 375,000 afghanis (about 4,500 U.S. dollars) for his son's medical treatment. 

According to Rahim, the U.S. forces bombarded Rigretion village four years ago.

SOUNDBITE 2 (Dari): KHUDAI RAHIM, Father of the victims
"The warplanes bombarded the village. They targeted here from the ground and in the air, and they used any kind of shells."

Samiullah, a 17-year-old from Rigretion village, worried that the UXO left by the U.S. forces would continue to threaten the lives of Afghans.
      
SOUNDBITE 3 (Pashto): SAMIULLAH, Brother of victim
"My 15-year-old brother was killed here about one and a half months ago. The Americans bombarded here in the past, but the remaining bombs are still claiming the lives of children and youngsters... If someone steps on them, he or she would be killed."

Expressing similar fear, Mohammad Ibrahim, 33, a victim of the UXO, said that the bombs had maimed him forever.
   
SOUNDBITE 4 (Pashto): MOHAMMAD IBRAHIM, Victim of UXO
"About four or five years ago, our village was bombarded, and the bombs exploded. But seven days later, another blast (of the UXO) maimed me, and after 20 days, I woke up in a hospital in Karachi and saw my hand cut off."

He said he has not received any forms of compensation so far.

Afghan land is contaminated with unexploded ordnances, which killed and injured tens of thousands of Afghans, especially children, as they travel and go about their daily chores, according to a report from the "Costs of War" project under Brown University.

The International Committee of the Red Cross pointed out that children are the most vulnerable victims of UXO, noting in its report that 640 children were killed or injured in 541 incidents involving landmine explosions and explosive remnants in Afghanistan between January 2022 and June 2023.
  
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Farah Rod, Afghanistan.
(XHTV)