Japanese sending crews into Afghanistan to rid the place of mines

"Japan Mine Action Service (JMAS), a nonprofit organization mainly comprising former Self-Defense Forces personnel, will send a team to Afghanistan soon to help clear land mines laid by Soviet forces in the 1980s.

It is estimated that it will take three years to clear all the land mines in the area allocated to the team. The team from the Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo-based NPO is highly motivated, with one member saying, "It's highly significant that a Japanese organization is making a contribution in this field."

JMAS will clear mines in a 114,000-square-meter area 50 kilometers north of Kabul. The air force of the former Soviet Union used the area as a base and placed huge number of antipersonnel mines there. The mines have killed and injured many local people.

It is unclear how many land mines there are in the targeted area. To locate them, workers have to dig to a depth of 15 centimeters by hand. After a mine is detected, it is blown up. When the area has been made safe, it will be used as pasture for nomadic tribespeople."