GOOD MEN GONE

The HALO Trust has been doing some very worthwhile work:

Afghanistan is probably the most mined country in the world, with HALO estimates of up to 640,000 mines laid since 1979. HALO’s operations started in 1988 when we introduced to the world the concept of humanitarian mineclearance.

HALO employs 1,960 Afghan staff managed by Afghans with the assistance of two expatriate operations officers and an accountant.

HALO personnel have removed over 1 million pieces of unexploded ordnance and mines littering Afghanistan. It goes without saying it's dangerous work. As it turns out, the HALO guys had more to worry about than the explosives they dealt with daily:

Two Afghan experts working for a British-based mine- clearing agency were killed and six wounded yesterday when a bomb tore through their truck in southern Afghanistan, the organization said.

The bomb was detonated by remote control as the vehicle was passing in the volatile southern city of Kandahar, HALO Trust regional director Mohammad Ashraf said.

“Two people were killed and six others were wounded,” Ashraf said. They were all Afghan employees of the organization and had been returning from a mine clearance operation.

Risk your life to prevent your fellows being maimed or killed and get murdered for your trouble. Coming soon, one of the relief choppers in Pakistan will be shot down.