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CNN Live At Daybreak

America's New War: Landmines and Children

Aired September 28, 2001 - 07:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: U.S. forces could face the prospect of heading into the Afghan capital of Kabul. But just setting foot there can be a very dangerous step.

For that story, we turn now to our own Miles O'Brien, who joins us from the CNN Center in Atlanta -- good morning, Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Paula.

As the U.S. continues pursuing military options in Afghanistan, it's important to understand the legacy of the Soviet invasion of 1979. And the one we're talking about right now are the landmines.

Let's take a look at a map of the region to give you a sense of how heavily landmined this area is. It's one of the most heavily landmined countries in the world. As we zoom in to Afghanistan, take a look at these red zones. There are areas that are considered heavily laden with landmines and some of them where the bright red is along these edges even more so.

Now, just to give you some perspective, 88 Afghans are hurt or killed by landmines or unexploded ordinance each month. That is current -- excuse me, that was last year. That, as much as that sounds like a lot, just eight years ago 24 Afghans were hurt or killed by landmines each and every day.

Now, many of them died before they could get to medical treatment because of the incredible isolation of this country. Experts believe nearly 280,000 square miles of the country is littered with landmines. About half of that, these areas that are red, are considered the high priority areas. Now, the Taliban and the Northern Alliance, which controls this chunk of Afghanistan, both have renounced landmines. But nevertheless, the legacy remains.

Let's bring in a guest to talk a little bit about this. Sarah Warren is an expert on the issue of landmines.

Sarah, just to put Afghanistan in perspective, we've heard a lot about Cambodia being a place where there are a lot of imines. Is Afghanistan as bad as anyplace on the planet?

SARAH WARREN, landmine EDUCATOR: Afghanistan is actually considered to be one of the three worst mine affected countries in the world, along with Angola and Cambodia. So it's pretty bad, yes.

O'BRIEN: All right, we have some examples of mines here and the one I'm holding here right now is the VS50. The VS50, and this is not a real mine, obviously, but it is meant to look like the real thing. What is perhaps most interesting about this, Sarah, and maybe you'll agree with me, is that it's made of plastic. How difficult does it make it for somebody to detect this sort of mine?

WARREN: Plastic mines pose a serious problem for the demining teams and what they've had to do to get around that is basically to bring in explosive sniffing dogs. Normally they would work with metal detectors. There are a variety of techniques for removing mines, but when you get into plastic mines, it makes things a lot more difficult and these dogs have actually been a remarkable help in clearing the plastic mines in Afghanistan.

O'BRIEN: Let's take a look at some other mines which are heavily used in the areas in and around Kabul and in Afghanistan. This is the PFM1. It's a so-called butterfly mine. It's actually just thrown out of aircraft, typically. They lay there on the ground. And I find it very interesting that in many cases children find them, pick them up, think they're toys.

WARREN: Yes, we, when we were doing mine awareness in Afghanistan, I worked for Save the Children in Kabul, which was a heavily mine affected city. And one of the concerns is that there are rumors that mines are made to look like toys and we're not actually convinced of that. But that's sort of irrelevant. For children, if they find something to be interesting, particularly in the shape of a butterfly, that's very problematic. And in the case of these mines that are dropped down from the air, they tend to sit on top of the ground and they become very tempting for children to pick up and play with.

O'BRIEN: And could those particular mines, those butterfly mines, could they kill a child? Do they have enough explosive power?

WARREN: Basically what we try to teach the kids is that any mine or unexploded ordinance could kill you. It depends on the situation and each type of mine is somewhat different. But yes, they're very dangerous. It depends on the size of the child and how they pick it up.

O'BRIEN: All right, one final mine that we want to give you a sense of here. This is the POMZ2 mine, which is usually laid out in a cluster, OK? And as you can see here, it's got a little pull ring on there. It has a trip wire attached to it. Several of them are laid out together. You step over the trip wire and I presume, Sarah, that you get multiple explosions as a result of that?

WARREN: These mines are particularly deadly. When they go off, they can kill any number of people that are standing around in the area. They send fragments out all over the place. They are one of the few mines that actually are above the ground so you might be lucky and have a chance of seeing them, but usually not. Usually people trip over a wire and once that happens anyone who's in the area is in danger.

O'BRIEN: Sarah Warren giving us some insights into the deadly terrain of Afghanistan. Thanks for being with us this morning.

WARREN: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: All right, let's send it back to Paula in New York.

ZAHN: Thanks, Miles.

Still to come this morning, saying a sad farewell to those who put their lives on the line every day. Our Beth Nissen and the sound of glory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETH NISSEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The souls of the valiant, of warriors lost in battle, are piped to their graves, piped into heaven.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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