Location: Kabul, Afghanistan
Website: http://www.mineaction.org/programmes/afghanistan
The Mine Action Programme of Afghanistan (MAPA) is a joint project of 46 humanitarian and commercial organisations employing over 9,000 Afghan citizens. Various elements of MAPA are managed by the Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan (MACCA), the Afghan government’s Directorate for Mine Action Coordination (DMAC) and the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). Its purpose is to reduce and ultimately eliminate the threat of explosive remnants of war, minefields and other similar dangers to civilians, in which mission it has enjoyed some considerable success, clearing 23,806 hazardous areas, removing 28,798 anti-tank mines and 697,520 anti-personnel mines and destroying 17,930,606 items of unexploded ordnance. The strategic plan, required to achieve mine free status by 2023, involves 308 projects and is now managed by MACCA.
Although MAPA has achieved excellent results, it has been challenged by funding cuts, a lack of clearly delineated responsibilities for the various national and international bodies and the absence of Afghan government interest in demining.
Whilst MAPA’s primary purpose has always been dealing with mines, IEDs often present similar challenges and MAPA has destroyed 739 abandoned IEDs in its 26 years. As IED casualties continue to rise yearly, it may be hoped that MAPA’s mission may shift to include more anti-IED work.
This profile is part of AOAV’s investigation into counter-IED (C-IED) actors around the globe. To see the list of all C-IED actors recorded by AOAV, see here. To see those engaged in the Middle East, the Sahel, North Africa or other highly impacted countries please see here, here, here, and here respectively. This research was made possible by funding from the NATO Counter Improvised Explosive Devices Centre of Excellence (C-IED COE). To read the full report, ‘Addressing the threat posed by IEDs: National, Regional and Global Initiatives’, see here.
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