Children are the main casualties of war in Afghanistan

Approximately 78% of Afghans live in rural villages. Families are large, with many children and extended relations. Every family has almost ten children and half of them are girls which they are very vulnerable people in Afghanistan.

 More than six 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.

A large number of Afghan children are physically disabled. During the late 1980s, according to United Nations estimates, more than 300,000 Afghan children, victims of war, were disabled. A survey taken in 2005-2006 found that there were between 747,500 and 867,100 disabled Afghans, or 2.7% of the population. More than 50% of the disabled lived in Kabul, Khandahar, and Heart — areas which have seen the most fighting during the past three decades. Among the disabled, half were under the age of 19. Thus, there are probably over 400,000 disabled Afghan children, victims of direct conflict and leftover landmines.

As a result of these conditions, Afghan children suffer from one of the highest mortality rates in the world. According to UN data, the mortality rate for Afghan children under five years of age ranked second in 2007. The UN Development Programme (UNDP) reports that 42% of the Afghan population lives on less than one dollar per day, while UNICEF reported acute malnutrition among 16% of Afghan children. Life expectancy remains low, at 44 in 2007. According to the UNDP Human Development Index, Afghanistan stands at 174th among 178 countries. With such grim statistics for the adult population, children would be unable to thrive even under peaceful conditions.