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A Night With Deminers Clearing The Maidan Wardak Highway

Despite a lack of equipment, police deminers persistently work day and night to clear the southern highway through Maidan Wardak of mines in a bid to secure the route which connects nine provinces to Kabul. 

Working just 35kms from Kabul, these Maidan Wardak-based deminers, work around the clock despite a lack of equipment. 

TOLOnews reporter Tamim Hamid spent a night with one team recently in order to get a better idea of who they are and what they do. 

One deminer, 44-year-old Abdul Rahman has been with the police for almost 20 years but took a job with the police demining unit two years ago. 

In this time he has defused almost 80 mines, he said. 

According to Rahman, every day they find mines and in one day alone last year, during a clash between security forces and insurgents, they found dozens.  

“When we started from Maidan Shahr, the provincial capital of Wardak, till we reached Jalrez district, we defused or detonated 81 mines,” said Rahman. 

Rahman said he has five children and always worries about them when he returns to duty. 

“My family is not happy about my profession, but I have chosen this as it is a very holy, professional duty,” Rahman added. 

Meanwhile Maidan Wardak police criticized government for not considering the "reward and punishment" principal for deminers. 

“When insurgents control mines from a long distance, then our forces should also be equipped with modern and advanced equipment,” said Fahim Qaim Wardak police chief. 

Police deminers said that in the past year they have defused nearly 500 mines in total along various highways, including the Kabul-Kandahar road. 

A Night With Deminers Clearing The Maidan Wardak Highway

TOLOnews journalist Tamim Hamid spent a night with a demining team just 35km from Kabul city as they cleared a section of the key highway. 

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Despite a lack of equipment, police deminers persistently work day and night to clear the southern highway through Maidan Wardak of mines in a bid to secure the route which connects nine provinces to Kabul. 

Working just 35kms from Kabul, these Maidan Wardak-based deminers, work around the clock despite a lack of equipment. 

TOLOnews reporter Tamim Hamid spent a night with one team recently in order to get a better idea of who they are and what they do. 

One deminer, 44-year-old Abdul Rahman has been with the police for almost 20 years but took a job with the police demining unit two years ago. 

In this time he has defused almost 80 mines, he said. 

According to Rahman, every day they find mines and in one day alone last year, during a clash between security forces and insurgents, they found dozens.  

“When we started from Maidan Shahr, the provincial capital of Wardak, till we reached Jalrez district, we defused or detonated 81 mines,” said Rahman. 

Rahman said he has five children and always worries about them when he returns to duty. 

“My family is not happy about my profession, but I have chosen this as it is a very holy, professional duty,” Rahman added. 

Meanwhile Maidan Wardak police criticized government for not considering the "reward and punishment" principal for deminers. 

“When insurgents control mines from a long distance, then our forces should also be equipped with modern and advanced equipment,” said Fahim Qaim Wardak police chief. 

Police deminers said that in the past year they have defused nearly 500 mines in total along various highways, including the Kabul-Kandahar road. 

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