Children are the builders of a nation's future. At times when Afghanistan is in dire need of future and present builders, unfortunately the suffering of children in this country is multiplying with the passage of each year. Apart from being abused as laborers, the Afghan children are increasingly falling victims in hands of terrorists. They are either being unreasonably killed or used as suicide bombers.
Just about a week after Taliban brutally beheaded 17 Afghan civilians in Helmand province, dead bodies of two young children – a boy aged 12 and a girl aged 7 – were found on Friday in two different provinces of Afghanistan. The body of the boy was discovered in the rural Panjwai district of Kandahar province.
He was killed because his family members worked with Afghan local police. There was no immediate explanation for the killing of the girl, whose body was found in a garden in the Tagab district of eastern Kapisa province. This is the worst form of brutally and severe violation of human and children's rights.
The killings indicate the fact that the insurgents hold no mercy even on innocent children. Taliban who call themselves as 'soldiers of Islam' have been behind killing of innocent women and children – an act that has been strongly forbidden in Islam. Islam does not allow killing of women, children or aged people but Taliban continue to do so.
Also, the children are being increasingly recruited by insurgents who are brain-washed and utilized to launch suicide attacks.
Taliban's supreme leader in his messages - especially those released on important Islamic events such as Eid and the holy month of Ramadan – have urged his fighters to avoid killing of civilian as far as possible. But it seems like his instructions are futile. The Taliban continue to be behind terrorist activities that take lives of innocent men, women and children on daily basis. Last year the US based Human Rights Watch said that younger children were being used in suicide attacks and calling it an "alarming" trend.
Afghan children already suffer due to poverty and lack of access to their basic rights such as getting education and health services, their killings or misuse by insurgents will add to their anguish.