Across Afghanistan, 62 people a month are killed or injured by mines and unexploded ordinance. We know some of the most vulnerable groups are hit hardest - in fact, around 50% of the casualties are children.
Herat Province has one of the highest rates of accidents from explosives and mines with 627 accidents between 2002 and 2006. And even unexploded mines have serious consequences. Mines prevent the safe use of land, which means that refugees are reluctant to return to their homes - both factors make earning a living much harder.
That's why DFID funds the charity HALO in clearing the mines around Mohammed's village of Bagram 40 miles from the capital Kabul. Which means families who used to live in the fields that became a battleground will be able to return in safety to rebuild their lives.
Meet 11-year-old Mohammed Naim Khan. Two years ago, he returned home to Afghanistan with his family after living in Pakistan. Having left Afghanistan to avoid the conflict, they thought they now had a new beginning and a hopeful future in their homeland.
Mohammed's home was dangerously close to the front line of 30 years of war in Afghanistan, fought over by the Russians, tribal groups and the Taliban.
But life took a tragic twist for Mohammed. When out playing with friends he shouted a warning that they had strayed into a dangerous area.
He didn't know why it was dangerous, but seconds later he was screaming in agony as his leg was blown off above the knee by a land mine.
"I lost my leg and it was really painful. I'm all right now but I still have problems. School is a long way from my house it is two kilometres away and I have to walk there and back every day.
"It is big problem because my family is poor and they have to look after me because I have difficulty walking.When I grow up and finish school I want to become a tailor or a teacher or maybe a deminer."
Clearing a path
Life will be tough for Mohammed, who comes from a big family of 6 brothers and 2 sisters - that's a lot of mouths to feed. There are many jobs he won't be able to do because of his disability. But he has already passed his junior school exams and is looking forward to starting senior school in March 2009 once the winter snows disappear.
HALO employs 150 Afghans who earn =A3120 per month to clear the area, and in the last three years they have cleared and destroyed 15,000 mines - each dangerous enough to maim or kill others like Mohammed.
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State said:
"In the last 7 years, the UK has helped to destroy over 30 million anti-personnel mines across the world and in Afghanistan, the number of people injured or killed by landmines has halved. We must continue to do everything we can to prevent more children in Afghanistan from suffering a similar fate to that of Mohammed."
Key facts
- DFID funded HALO with =A3136,000 in 2008 to help clear mines in the north and centre of Afghanistan. They have also promised to give =A310 million over five years to clear explosives from an area called Herat
- DFID has supported the HALO Trust in clearing mines in Afghanistan for almost 20 years
- Since 1988 HALO Afghanistan has destroyed nearly 580,000 mines out of the ground, around 500,000 mines out of stockpiles and over 5.5 million other explosive remnants of war.
- This case study first appeared in an article by David Rigby, published in the award-winning children's newspaper, FirstNews <http://www.firstnews.co.uk/>.