Marco Grob: Combating the Scourge of Landmines in Afghanistan

Shah Lala took his 8 year old son , Zubair, to a mine risk education session in his community. His son said “I enjoyed the movie presented by the Mine Action workers, now if I see a stone with red paint on it, I know that a mine or something explosive is there and I should not walk there. This can save my life.” Photo: Marco Grob

Hameedullah has worked as a deminer with MAPA's implementing partner DDG for three years. He has found many mines and unexploded ordnance (UXOs) and has saved untold lives by removing them from the area. Photo: Marco Grob

Zakira, 38, lost her leg when she stepped on an explosive remnant of war on her way to the market. She is the head of the Shura council of the women’s disability forum. Photo: Marco Grob

Malik Abdul Rahman, 60, is a village elder and Maksood, 52, is his deputy in Parch e Shash area of Bagram. They said, “During the Soviet Union we immigrated to Pakistan and spent 24 years there, when we came back seven years ago, we were even not able to build our houses because all the land was contaminated with mines and unexploded remnants of war. It was too dangerous for us to walk around to collect the wood and materials we needed to rebuild our houses, but now we can easily do that, and we are looking forward to see the area free of mines forever.” Photo: Marco Grob

Mohammad Esmayeel lives in Bareekab community which is currently being cleared of mines, he says “Before the deminers came, we were not able to go far from our homes due to the mines and other explosive remnants of war, but are free to walk anywhere and are able to build houses without being worried about mines.” Photo: Marco Grob

Mujeeburahman, 16, is a student living in Parch e Shah-Bagram. He has been witness of landmine accidents, especially many of the Nomadic tribe of Koochis, who have been injured or killed travelling with their animals. Photo: Marco Grob

Mohammad Omer 28 years old, has been a deminer with UNMAS implementing partner Danish Demining Group (DDG) for five years and has found 753 mines during his time working in Bagram, Afghanistan. Photo: Marco Grob

Ruqya, 35, lost both her legs in a landmine accident. She also lost five family members, including her husband, when they ran through a minefield while fleeing their homes during Afghanistan’s civil war. She is now working as a tailor. Photo: Marco Grob

Wares Khan has been a deminer with UNMAS implementing partner Danish Demining Group (DDG) for six years, during which time he has destroyed many different types of mines and other explosive remnants of war. Photo: Marco Grob

Nazir Ahmad Azizi is a professional sportsman who was injured by an explosive remnant of war when his family was trying to rebuild its house in Panjshir. After his accident, his family moved to Kabul but now that the area in Panjshir has been cleared, his family is able to resettle there and safely rebuild their home. Photo: Marco Grob

Pacha Mir is 40 and lives in Sayad, Bagram. He was badly injured by a landmine when he was putting up a sign outside a shop: “I don’t know what happened," he recalls. "I just remember that when I started to hammer the sign into the ground, there was an explosion, and then I was injured. Fortunately, my friend who was with me was O.K.” Photo: Marco Grob

Zahidullah is 28 years old and is a deminer with UNMAS implementing partner Danish Demining Group (DDG). Originally from Nangahar, Afghanistan, he is currently working to clear a minefield in Parwan province. He has been a deminer for more than five years and has found approximately 62 landmines in the course of his work. Photo: Marco Grob

Mohammad Noor, 40, is a demining team leader and training team leader for HALO Trust. He started working as a deminer in 1997 and is still proud to be working for mine action. Photo: Marco Grob

Gulsom, 16, is a student in a tailor shop. She was 5 years old when she lost her leg in a landmine explosion in Kabul. Photo: Marco Grob

Kefatullah Eblagh is the director of Afghan Technical Consultants (ATC), an UNMAS implementing partner that has been working for more than 20 years to clear landmine contamination from Afghanistan. He says that although there have been many challenges over the past 20 years, demining has consistently been supported by all ruling parties in the country and by many donors from all over the world. Photo: Marco Grob

Amina Azimi, 25, works as a journalist for the Development and Ability Organisation (DAO), a UNMAS implementing partner. She was 8 years old when she lost one of her legs in a landmine explosion in Kabul as she was returning from a party. She says, “I love working as a journalist. It makes me feel good to be highlighting the challenges people with disabilities face.” Photo: Marco Grob

Abdul Hakim Noorzai, working as Chief of Operations in Danish Deming Group. He started working as a deminer in 1993 and has been working in mine action ever since. He says, “In the beginning, we had to clear mines with very basic tools like a knife, but now we have very advanced machines and materials to clear mines and other explosives.” Photo: Marco Grob

Lailuma is a 20-year-old student in a tailoring shop. She was 2 years old when she lost both her legs in a landmine explosion at her home. Photo: Marco Grob

Rahmanudin, 40, is living in Parch e Shash village, Bagram, where landmine clearance is taking place. He is looking forward to the completion of the clearance so that he and his fellow villagers can build their houses and walk freely anywhere. Photo: Marco Grob

Dr. Mohammad Haider Reza, former Programme Director, Mine Action Coordination Centre of Afghanistan. Dr. Reza is now the Programme Director of the UN Mine Action Programme in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo: Marco Grob

More than one million people in Afghanistan are affected by landmines and explosive remnants of war. Over forty people are killed or injured every month. In February 2011, TIME photographer Marco Grob went to Afghanistan to support the work of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS). To bring attention to the problems — farmers are unable to plant in contaminated fields; women are unable to access water because surrounding areas are mined; citizens can’t rebuild on land because of the danger of explosion — UNMAS approached TIME’s Marco Grob, known best for his portraiture work, to photograph the impact of landmines and explosive remnants of war on Afghans.Improvising a studio on a former battlefield near one of the country’s most densely contaminated minefields, Grob and his team found the snow and wind a challenge — forcing them to enlist the aid of one of the UN mine clearers, who held a reflector over subjects’ heads to keep the snow off them. When approaching each subject, Grob says, he didn’t want to showcase their injuries. “I choose to concentrate on their faces and the textures of Afghanistan.”Grob, a former soldier in the Swiss army who was trained in laying mines, says his work is far from over. Funding — which is used to train and employ 15,000 men across Afghanistan, providing livelihoods while cleaning up communities — is the only obstacle to ridding Afghanistan of mines. With donations, Afghanistan could be cleared of mines in years instead of decades. “I hope my work helps to raise awareness,” says Grob, “and will help keep the required money flowing.”Photos by Marco GrobWatch the video "UN through the Lens: Combating the Scourge of Landmines in Afghanistan" http://bit.ly/nXAU43