Afghanistan, meetings in the schools of the Herat region with the support of Italian soldiers.

Teaching the Afghan children to defend from unexploded and improvised device

An information campaign has been inaugurated at Camp Arena military base for the children of the schools in the Herat province, dedicated to the risks in case of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) and Improvised Explosive Device (IED).

For the initiative Afghan soldiers and policemen of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), supported by Italian specialist soldiers of the Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) cell, will explain how to recognize, avoid and indicate this ordnance to the security forces in order to avoid accidents. The ANSF soldiers have been trained by the Italian advisors of the "Train, Advise, Assist Command West" (TAAC-W).

At the inauguration event there were  the Governor of the Herat Province Mr. Asif Rahimi, the local civil and military authorities and representatives of school directors that will contribute to publicize the project in all the public institutes of the Herat province. General Hedayat, Commander of the 207th Afghan Army Corps, has thanked the TAAC-W Commander General Massimo Biagini for the support provided and he has also asked the Italian contingent to continue the training phase in the struggle against the improvised device. In fact the "train the trainers" principle aims make the Afghan security forces able to organize and implement courses but also to produce information materials for children and teenagers that show efficiently the risks related to the finding of unexploded rockets, mines or improvised ordnance.

The information campaign will be realized in schools and villages in the western part of the region in order to limit and eliminate the risks coming from the explosion of improvised and unexploded ordnance. Some leaflets and posters distributed in schools and villages will illustrated to the afghan children how to avoid these dangers that represent one of the main causes of death and disability among the population: in July and August about 200 of this kind of incidents have been registered and the 20% of them involved children.

The prevention activity based on information campaigns is essential for the security of the population, as well as the training by Italian advisors of qualified teams that can carry out adequate awareness activities, especially in the villages of the rural area.

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