Costs of War

In Afghanistan the costs of war are still 'visible'. Once you travel around you will always see tanks, artillery and whatever killing device. Often tanks still block main roads as shown in this picture taken close to Bamiyan. Other costs include the loss of almost two generations in Afghanistan not measured in victims but in inadequate education. I don’t plan to go into all costs, I rather mention others which are less visible but still highly destructive. Today while leaving Herat I met a team from Handicap International which was on their way back home after having destroyed 303,700 landmines and unexploded ordinance (UXO) in 18 months with a team of 26 persons in the region of Herat. I asked the team about their estimates on how many landmines and UXO are still left around Herat and the team leader answered that this was just the beginning and that much more is still left and continues to be a major impediment of development. He also mentioned that their project is now over and that there is a fatigue in giving donations for their work. I hope the latter is not true but if it is true then Afghanistan’s costs of war will continue to rise in the upcoming years. Landmines cost as little as $3 to deploy, but up to $1000 to remove by conventional methods....