TEHRAN (Iran News) –For years many international bodies have tried to control war crimes through restricting deadly weapons and weapons of mass destruction which threatens the life of people but each time big powers and mainly the U.S. and its allies have violated what has been approved by those bodies to save the life of people through banning any deadly and mass destruction weapons.
The U.S. has been the main violator of any approved law and decision in protecting humanity and this country which claims of supporting human rights and values has passed all red lines. Washington who is now at odd with the Islamic Republic of Iran over the peaceful nuclear program has been the first and the only country used nuclear bomb during the World War II. Of course this country has tried all of its deadly weapons during the wars in any part of the world.
Cluster bomb is one of the weapons which has been banned by the international bodies but we see the U.S. forces use it wherever they want and nobody dares to question it, but if some independent and non-Western country uses it suddenly the world roars against it.
Cluster bombs have been banned by over 100 countries — of course as usual the U.S. has not signed the pact — due to the significant risk they pose to civilian populations. These munitions release smaller bomblets that have a high failure rate, leaving unexploded remnants that can remain dangerous for years and detonate unpredictably. But we see the U.S. gives no damn to what the world says and it wants to supply this bomb to Ukraine for using it against Russia.
President Joe Biden confirmed the decision to send cluster bombs to Ukraine as part of a military aid package worth $800 million. He acknowledged the difficulty of the decision but emphasized Ukraine’s need for ammunition. He also stated that he had discussed the matter with allies beforehand.
A cluster bomb is a type of weapon that is designed to disperse smaller bombs over a large area. They are also known as cluster munitions, with the smaller bombs referred to as sub-munitions or bomblets, CBC News said.
Cluster bombs, employed in World War II, can be dropped from air or fired from ground/sea, dispersing dozens or hundreds of bomblets across a large area. These explosions pose a grave threat to anyone in the vicinity, causing death or severe injuries.
Furthermore, some bomblets fail to detonate immediately, leaving behind unexploded ordnance that can harm or kill people for years to come. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, the sub-munitions failure rate — referred to as the “dud rate” — has varied from 10% to 40% in recent conflicts.
Also unexploded bomblets can resemble toys, posing a grave risk to children who might handle them and suffer injuries or fatalities.
But a recent report shows that the U.S. forces have repeatedly used cluster bombs in Afghanistan while the international bodies have been silent.
The globally-banned, mass-destructive cluster bombs dropped by U.S. military forces in Afghanistan during their 20-year occupation of the country continue to wreak havoc among Afghans with the unexploded bomblets still remaining a major life-threatening risk to local civilians.
There are currently 195,000 registered maimed individuals in Afghanistan, the majority of whom are victims of cluster bomb and drone strikes across the country during the US-led military occupation, the Afghan Ministry of Martyrs and Disable Affairs has declared as cited in a Saturday report by China Global Television Network (CGTN).
It is estimated that during the first three years of the destructive invasion, American forces dropped more than 1,500 cluster bombs across the impoverished nation torn by terror and foreign military occupation.
Unexploded ordnances from cluster bombs dropped by the U.S. military continue to cause fatalities and injuries years and even decades after the munitions were launched, a senior official of the ministry pointed out.
The U.S. — despite its purported and hyped up advocacy for “human rights” — remains among the countries of the world that has refused to sign the convention banning the use of cluster munitions due the long-term risk they pose to civilian lives even after a conflict concludes.
”We don’t have exact data on the number of Afghans maimed by the use of cluster bombs but in fact, many cases of disabilities — including those suffered by the Mujahideen — are a result of air strikes, including drone attacks and cluster bombs, said the ministry’s Chief of Staff Qari Shah Mohamd, referring to fighters resisting the US-led invasion.
“The U.S. has committed various war crimes in Afghanistan, except for the use of nuclear bombs,” Mohamd further emphasized.
We Iranians have a proverb saying death is good for the neighbor which is equivalent to “long live the snake that doesn’t bite me!” and the West and mainly the U.S. is ardent fan of this proverb and anybody dislikes Washington’s policy or does not follow that policy will face consequence of its disobedience and the U.S. feels it is entitled to commit any crime or use any cluster of crimes to dictate your policies on others.
The report of crimes of the U.S. in Afghanistan is nothing new, and we may see it likely to continue in Ukraine-Russia war if the world does not stop the U.S. from supplying this deadly weapon to Ukraine which has turned into a tool to put the U.S. pressure on Russia.
