Urgent Funding Needed to Clear Afghan Landmines: UN

KABUL, January 13 (BBC)

The United Nations says it urgently needs more than $700 million to continue clearing landmines and other unexploded ordnance in Afghanistan.

The United Nations' mine clearance agency in Afghanistan says it has had to reduce operations in parts of the country due to a recent drop in international funding.

The agency's program director, Mohammed Haidar Reza, said the agency was hoping to find new donors, including countries in the oil-rich Gulf.

Hundreds of thousands of mines were laid in Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion in 1979 and during the ensuing years of conflict. Dozens of people are still killed or injured every month by mines.