BRIEF

British ISAF Patrol

British soldiers from 1st Battalion of The Worcestershire and Sherwood Foresters Regiment conduct regular and frequent patrols in Kabul and its immediate environs--this time searching a compound for weapons and ammunition.  They are a component of NATO led International Security Assistance Force or ISAF.  Specifically they are part of the Kabul Multi National Brigade comprised of military forces from over 30 different countries. ISAF’s mission is to “support the government of Afghanistan in providing and maintaining a secure environment in order to facilitate the re-building of Afghanistan.”

Identifying and disposing of unexploded munitions is a primary concern in war ravaged Afghanistan.  Decades of fighting have left millions of ordnance strewn across the country.  While EOD efforts and de-mining initiatives have disposed of countless artillery shells, mortar rounds, anti-armor mines and other explosive devices, Mines Active Program in Afghanistan estimates that between 70 and 100 people are killed or injured by unexploded ordnance or mines every month.  More troubling, insurgents have made good use of the stockpiles of unexploded ordnance, making improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.  In the last year from 2005 to 2006 there has been a steady increase in IED attacks against Afghan civilian, military and political targets as well as Coalition and NATO units.