WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 01st February, 2020) US military commanders will be allowed to use anti-personnel landmines in exceptional circumstances under a policy reversal ordered by President Donald Trump and announced in a White House press release on Friday.
"The President has canceled the Obama administration's policy to prohibit United States military forces from employing anti-personnel landmines outside of the Korean Peninsula," the release said.
As a result, the Defense Department is issuing a new landmine policy to authorize combatant commanders to employ in exceptional circumstances advanced non-persistent landmines specifically designed to reduce unintended harm to civilians and partner forces, the release said.
Non-persistent mines are typically laid on the surface and destroy themselves within a relatively short period of time.
In contrast, traditional mines remain buried and often explode when disturbed, even decades later, killing and maiming victims.
An international campaign to ban landmines led to a 1997 treaty, which has been signed by more than 160 nations.
The United States refused to sign the treaty, but in 2014, the Obama administration largely aligned the country with the treaty's requirements by banning using mines with the exception for the Korean Peninsula.
