Another example of an Afghan transportation. Probably, inside the car is packed with other members, maybe 6 or 7 people. In 2007, a research center found this: The 179 out of 500 persons were literate, of which 2.8% have 1-3, 34% have 4-7, and 63.2 % have over 8 family members. However from remained 321 persons 4% have 1-3, 43.8 % have 4-7, and 52.2% have more than 8 family members. I took this picture in spring 2008, on our way back from Nowruz festival in Mazar-e Sharif.

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In winter 2008, I had a trip to central part of Afghanistan, Hazarajat. Shahrestan was quite warm because of its deep valleys located at lower altitude comparing to its adjacent district. However, the weather was still cold and brutal to bare skin. According to UNICEF report in 2005, over 100 deaths from the harsh weather have been reported so far across Afghanistan. Children were dying as a result of these poor weather conditions, particularly in the central areas, in the high mountainous areas, and up in the northeast of the country, which is a very rural and isolated part of Afghanistan

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UNICEF says more than 30% of children of elementary-school age are working on the streets in Afghanistan and are often their family’s sole breadwinners. That means that millions of children are not going to school. Child labor in Afghanistan is also rampant, with many impoverished families selling their kids into forced labor, sexual exploitation, and early marriage. UN says a total of 1,396 children were killed or maimed (486 killed & 910 maimed) in 2010. This is a 35% rise compared to 2009, mainly owing to an increase in indiscriminate methods of warfare and asymmetric attacks by armed groups. Click Image to Enlarge.

Children suffered more than most during the civil war. They had no school education or children’s entertainment. “The Taliban have been burning schools and warning parents not to send their children to schools. The reason is obvious: if those children go to school, no one would work in the poppy fields, and when they are educated they become more liberal and Taliban will not have a chance to recruit them.” - is taken from this article on NATO Review. For further reading go to the article.

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In 2010, Slate wrote: “Afghanistan is not kind to [its] children.” On January 6, 2012, an explosion killed 6 children in southern Afghanistan. AP reported: “The children were rummaging through the trash for food scraps and bottles in the southern province of Uruzgon when the blast killed them.” The explosive device was hidden in a trash heap. Also a m was also killed and four other children were wounded.The U.N. estimates IEDs and suicide attacks accounted for half of nearly 1,500 civilian deaths in the first six months of last year, the most recent statistics.

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