3 million Afghan children facing major threats

Around 3 million Afghan kids are currently facing poverty and other serious threats in the country, deputy of ministry of work and social affairs said.

“Nearly 3 million Afghan children are facing major threats that 1.2 millions of them are used for hard work and exploitative which is contrary to the Islamic and human values,” Wasel Noor Muhmand, deputy of ministry of work said.

Ariana television reported several times that children were sold for food by their families in the north during the 2007 drought. They have been put to work at young ages, with some 60,000 working on the streets of Kabul and denied schooling.

As many as three million Afghan children are acutely vulnerable. They are not attending school. They are searching for work on urban streets and in fields. And they are at risk of exploitation, poor health, severe injury, and needless death.

They are the tragic victims of war in a society whose institutional support systems had been weak or nonexistent prior to the outbreak of conflict 30 years ago, and which have been nearly impossible to rebuild since.

A society where the traditional social networking and customs once offered protection has all but disintegrated.

Peace is the first prerequisite for the long and arduous task of rescuing Afghanistan’s children from this tragic plight.

“Nowadays, Afghan children are used for sexual exploitation. If we want to bring change, that is not a miracle,” Farhad Darya, ambassador to the protection of children in Afghanistan said.

More than half of Afghan girls and boys suffer damage to their minds and bodies that cannot be undone because they are poorly nourished in the crucial first two years of life, doctors and other experts say.

The finding raises serious questions about the legacy of more than 10 years of western involvement in Afghanistan.

Children who are not getting enough nutrients from their food suffer from what is known as chronic malnutrition. The problem afflicts poor countries worldwide, but in Afghanistan it is particularly widespread and persistent.