Children and minors have been utilized for committing crimes of various kinds since long – robbery, selling drugs, sexual abuse etc. Countries of the world - mainly developing and under developed nations - have set their feet on the rights of children, albeit almost all nations have signed international regulations on rights of children. In Saudi Arabia, for example, children trafficked from third world countries are used as camel jockeys. Over the last decade children, who are as innocent as angels, have increasingly been used for executing terror attacks in Afghanistan, mainly for suicide attacks. The trend which was actually initiated by Al Qaida, have gained more focus of Taliban in the recent years.

Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan are bribing starving children as young as eight years old to plant deadly roadside booby traps, be decoys in ambushes and even act as suicide bombers. According to UK’s Channel 4 Dispatches programs, despite the Islamic fundamentalists’ claim they have no children in their ranks, extremists have been actively recruiting orphaned and homeless young boys and training them to use guns, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and suicide vests. There are 224 children only in prisons in Helmand and Ghazni who are arrested by government forces for planning or carrying out attacks.

Here is another example of how Taliban brainwash the children to use them in launching suicide attacks: They are given amulets containing verses from the Koran by Taliban commanders who tell them they would be protected from the explosion. They are also told that when they detonated their bomb, everyone else would die but they would survive.

The act of Taliban to use the children in carrying out terror attacks needs to be widely condemned. Such an act is anti-Islamic and anti-human. UN and Human rights organizations must create more awareness among the people regarding this issue and our Ulama must urge the Taliban to stop misusing the children.

This is a very dangerous trend. Already the children in Afghanistan are suffering due to lack of security and poor economic condition, their use in crimes, specifically, terrorism would have horrifying prospects. Afghanistan’s future is highly dependent on the children nurturing today. Attempts of militants to develop extremism among the children and youth may have far destructing outcomes for us. Such acts by Taliban further prove that they do not belong to religion of Islam, as Islam completely bans violence on children and their use in crimes.