KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - The term "improvised explosive device'' might be relatively new, but the concept is not: in Afghanistan, the ground has been exploding beneath the feet of innocent people for more than three decades.
After nearly 30 years of armed conflict, Afghanistan carries the dubious distinction of being one of the most heavily mined countries in the world, to say nothing of the countless unexploded mortar bombs, artillery shells and other munitions.
For nearly as long, however, dedicated souls committed to making their country a safer place have been gingerly sifting and shifting the arid Afghan soil a few square centimetres at a time in the distant hope that one day there might be no unsafe places to step.
"I'd like to save the lives of the people who are here,'' said Haji Baryali, 36, a father of seven children who works as a team leader for the United Nations Mine Action Center for Afghanistan (UNMACA).
"It is a dangerous job, and several people from our team have been killed,'' said Baryali, who earns about $250 a month.
"But we have to work. We are working for our country and we get paid something that feeds our family as well.''
Mines and IEDs are more than just a physical threat, said Mohammad Daud, director of UNMACA's operations in Kandahar province. The mere possibility of mines can suffocate a community by chasing away both its residents and its economy, he said.
"People who are coming from across the country are not willing to come to the country because of this problem,'' he said.
"This is a big issue for us, for the people of Afghanistan, and everyone is suffering -- physically and economically.''
On this day, Baryali is supervising efforts to clean up a bombed-out munitions cache in the foothills outside Kandahar city, a rock-strewn moonscape of partially collapsed buildings and the rusted husks of old Soviet military vehicles.
As he walks between rows of crudely painted rocks that denote safe passage, Baryali enthusiastically points out the perils all around: part of an anti-tank mine here, an unexploded shell there.
A de-miner for nearly 15 years, Baryali -- like so many of the people on his 10-person team and other teams like it across the country -- believes the work he is doing makes him a good Muslim.
"It is holy work, and if it was not holy, I would not do it. There is no doubt it is a holy job.''
Canada is the largest single financial supporter of Afghanistan's mine-clearing efforts. Late last year, Ottawa announced plans to spend $80 million over four years on the UN program through the Canadian International Development Agency, following on a commitment of $8.8 million in February 2007.
In Afghanistan to date, nearly 1.3 billion square metres of land have been cleared of mines, the number of "highly affected'' communities has been reduced by 34 per cent and the number of monthly victims more than halved, International Co-operation Minister Bev Oda said in a statement last week to mark the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action.
Afghanistan marked the occasion Sunday, rather than Friday, the Muslim Sabbath.
Meanwhile, according to government figures, more than 700 million square metres or some 700 square kilometres of Afghanistan remain contaminated by mines and unexploded ordnance, also known as the "explosive remnants of war.''
And Daud is not oblivious to the fact that even as UNMACA inches ahead, insurgents are busily sowing a new crop of deadly devices. The number of IEDs discovered last year in Afghanistan was more than twice that of 2005.
What's more, de-mining is a dangerous occupation in Afghanistan for more than just the obvious reasons. Last year, three of the UN's de-miners were kidnapped and later killed. The Taliban denied responsibility.
For Daud, the sheer magnitude of the task at hand is clearly something he chooses not to think about.
"When we are coming out from our home, making an agreement with someone to do a job, we have an agreement with the organization that we will do our best until the end of this work,'' he said.
"There is no way except to keep going on, to clear the land for the people of Afghanistan.''
"One thing is clear,'' he added. "We have a lot of enemies. (And) a lot of work to do.''
