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CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Farid Homayoun
Aired December 22, 2001 - 10:17 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.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: More than 20 years of war in Afghanistan have left it one of the most mined countries in the world. And I don't mean the kind where you're digging, we're talking about land mine, explosive land mines, thousands of them lay buried in the Afghan soil right now. And clearing those minds is an extremely dangerous job.
The de-mining organization, Halo Trust, has been working to clear land mines in Afghanistan since 1988. Its program manager, Farid Homayoun joins us now by phone from Kabul.
Mr. Homayoun, thank you very much for talking time to talk with us today. Can you give us a status report on how the process of de- mining Afghanistan is going right now? Has it -- have you been able to make quicker progress now that the war is -- there has basically so made so much progress in the last few weeks?
FARID HOMAYOUN, HALO TRUST: Yes, definitely. I think we have made a lot of progress. And just two days after the fall of Kabul to the hands of the Northern Alliance forces, we managed to mobilize our -- at least 15 mine field teams, which is about a few hundred de- miners to the Shomali Valley, just north of Kabul. And we were doing emergency clearance of the roads and the immediate sides of the roads, as well as paths through villages or sending food convoys and so on to the remote villages of the Shomali Valley.
Meanwhile, our operations in the -- in northern Afghanistan, also, resumed very quickly and we managed to dispatch a couple of teams to the north -- to the north city of Takhar and also to Hinjan (ph) and the (UNINTELLIGIBLE) Nahreen (ph). These are the districts of Baghlan.
We also maintained two quick response teams in Mazar. And so, it is getting back to the normal and we are hoping to have the kind of implements that we had before the 11th of September in the north and also, in the central region.
HARRIS: Let me ask you about the equipment and the process that you're using right now. We have seen reports of everything being used, from metal detectors to dogs sniffing these mines out. What has been the most successful method for you and your organization?
HOMAYOUN: I think just -- first of all, one must tell you that there's no magic behind mine clearance. It is a serious and time consuming work and you need to be very flexible on this sort of technology that you use in certain areas and mechanical clearance by using diggers and front end loaders are quite successful. In other areas, manual de-mining remains the only option. And also, in certain areas, one will -- some agencies are using dogs.
And so, I think that what one should bear in mind, is that, you know, mining is like a package of things and you have to be flexible by technology you are using for clearing of mines. But whatever you do, at the end of the day, all of these techniques are providing to manual de-mining and manual de-mining, at the moment, using a lot of manpower and equipped with protective equipment and metal detectors remain one of the main technologies for unburying mines.
HARRIS: Mr. Homayoun?
HOMAYOUN: And also...
HARRIS: I'm sorry to cut you off, but I'm -- we're running short on time and I want to ask you this one question because I've seen this report -- so many reports, rather of how long this process has been going on in Afghanistan. Your organization has been there for two decades nearly. Do you ever foresee a day when all of the land mines will actually be gone? Is -- or is this an impossible task?
HOMAYOUN: No, I don't think that this is an impossible task. I think it's one can have a lot of achievement. Just to give you an example, 1995, April 1995, we deployed a lot of teams in west Kabul. In the end of 2000, we declared Kabul City, residential area of Kabul City free and clear from land mines.
So I think that this (UNINTELLIGIBLE) is told and depending on the government's interest and the number of teams that you deploy on the ground, I give you a sort of 10 years time between -- most of the high priority areas of Afghanistan can be cleared of mines. That includes Halo Trust, also the other de-mining agencies.
So this problem can be solved and can be tackled. I can guarantee that.
HARRIS: Well, there are no doubt millions of people who hope that you are correct in that, Mr. Homayoun. Farid Homayoun, thank you very much for taking time to talk with us today and good luck. You have some very important work to do, removing all those mines in Afghanistan.
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