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ashir and his
family have found a suitable campsite |
and decide to set up camp.
Before the sun sets the family must have found a water
source and the children gathered enough firewood for cooking
and to keep them warm during the cold night. The women
will shepherd the herd of sheep as they graze. All of
which is daily life for nomads. However each chore now
carries great risks. A week ago Bashir's youngest son
almost lost his life when one of the sheep accidentally
detonated an unexploded cluster bomblet. "Mohammed
had taken the sheep to graze when we heard a loud explosion.
We ran to the canyon where
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the sound came from and where Mohammed was. The grass
was burning and three of our sheep were dead. Thanks be
to God, Mohammed was unhurt." Bashir, obviously moved,
hugs his son. Despite the relief that his son was unharmed
the loss of three sheep out of a herd of twenty amounts
to a financial catastrophe for the family. |
 |
n light of the
fact that failure rates have been so |
| high in Afghanistan, with
unexploded cluster bomblets as proxy landmines the question
arises as to whether the countries that have signed the
Ottawa Treaty that bans the usage of landmines and |
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|
are now part of the alliance in the war on terrorism should
ban the usage of cluster bombs in military conflicts or
rethink their commitment to the treaty.
Until alliance members have made their minds up, the
road ahead for Bashir and his countrymen is uncertain
and will be too for others that have to live after US
bombardments. "I have told my wife and children
to be careful of these bombs," says Bashir: "It
is difficult for the very young children to understand,
so I have told them not to go near or touch the poisonous
yellow flowers, as we call them."? 
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