U.S. cluster munitions have ensnared the Afghan people in a miserable abyss, leaving lasting scars, destroying homes and causing heavy civilian casualties. Statistics reveal that over the course of the 20-year U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, more than 170,000 Afghan lives were lost and nearly one-third of the Afghan population became refugees. In addition, the U.S. military extensively employed cluster bombs in Afghanistan, inflicting immense suffering on the local population. 

In 2001 and 2002, the U.S. military dropped over 1,200 cluster bombs in Afghanistan, containing more than 240,000 sub-munitions. Shatir Village in Herat, Afghanistan, was a target of this bombing. Now, over two decades later, the most heavily affected areas of the village still lie in ruins.