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Child labor, malnutrition, and education restrictions have put the future of Afghanistan's youth in peril: 'This is not the right moment to forget the people of Afghanistan'

Sep 17, 2022, 05:43 IST
Business Insider
Children play marbles on a hill top in Kabul, Afghanistan on August 4, 2022.DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images
  • Afghanistan has been under Taliban rule for about a year now.
  • Surrounded by the country's economic collapse and lack of resources, the children of Afghanistan are suffering.
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A year into the Taliban takeover, children in Afghanistan are in facing death, suffering, and an uncertain future.

With forced labor, malnutrition, and education restrictions dampening the population, Asuntha Charles, a humanitarian aid worker, told Insider that Afghan children are in urgent need of support. Since the Taliban takeover, the US and its international partners froze roughly $10 billion of the country's assets leaving the people who remain inside the country in dire need of outside aid.

"It's not the right moment for the international communities to stay away from Afghanistan, but to provide more and more support so that the future generation is not affected, but able to see life and hope," said Charles, who is from southern India.

Charles has been working with World Vision for about two years and has lived in Afghanistan for roughly 20 years. The Christian-based organization focuses on aiding children facing poverty and justice.

Since the Taliban regained control in August of last year, economic collapse, drought, and the aftermath of a substantial earthquake have devasted the region and the people who live there.

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"One thing gives me real worry is about the future of both girls and boys in this country. Because the future generation is really losing lot of opportunities because of so many factors," Charles told Insider.

A study by an NGO called Save the Children found that an estimated one million children had been forced into child labor by February.

"It's really going to have not only physical but psychological impact on the children who are in this country now," Charles added.

It's not uncommon for children in the Taliban-controlled region to work to survive.

After school, some children, boys mostly, are forced to sell items to make money for food or search for litter to burn for warmth.

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Girls have been barred from receiving an education beyond primary school, a dramatic regression in women's rights that had been made in the region over the last 20 years.

And outside of education, the lives of Afghanistan's youth are at stake.

Hundreds of children have died while playing outside as a result of explosive weapons that remained from the war.

And, by February, roughly 5 million children were close to starvation, according to The Guardian. And, as of August, about 90% of households in the country don't have enough food to survive, CBS News reported.

Some parents have faced the impossible decision of selling their children into marriage or at the bazaar in order to feed the rest of the family.

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"That's why we really want to continue to advocate that this is not the right moment to forget the people of Afghanistan and especially the children, and the global has to stand by them, and that's very, very crucial," Charles told Insider.

She acknowledged the numerous humanitarian issues going on across the globe, but said she doesn't want the world to forget about Afghanistan.

"There are so many crises globally, so people tend to also associate with different conflicts," Charles continued, "So, that type of frustration exists among people, that they are forgotten."

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