Children are the future of a nation. It is necessary for every nation to ensure proper nourishment of the children and make sure they get proper education and opportunities to develop their personalities and perform remarkably for their nations as well. Unless, children are able to develop their own personalities they are not able to do anything worthwhile for their nation.

However, it can be noted that there are many nations in the world that are not able to provide the basic requirements to the children and children are compelled to participate in supporting their families financially. In such cases the children instead of concentrating on their education and capacity building become the victims of child labor. As child laborers the children are not able to attend school, get basic education and follow professional careers; they instead get caught in begging, sexual abuse, discriminatory behavior, injustice and even violence.

Afghanistan is one of the countries where because of instable political and economic setup the children are forced into child labor. According to the Ministry of Work and Social Affairs the economic problems in the country have forced more than one million children into child labor across Afghanistan. Deputy Minister Wasil Mohmand said in a statement on Monday, March 24, that currently 1,200,000 children live on their own in Kabul and other provinces. He is also reported to have said that employing children is against the labor law and Islamic teachings.

There is no doubt in the fact that employing children is both against the law and Islamic teaching, but again Afghanistan has not been able to eradicate this menace even to a meager extent though it claims to be an Islamic country. It should now be understood that calling child labor against the law or Islam would not solve the issue. There has to be a comprehensive strategy and practical measures to deal with the situation. Unless there are efforts to deal with the basic reasons of the problem, it would not be possible to stop the children from working for their families. There are many circumstances wherein the children do not have any option except to be child labors. The socio-economic conditions wherein they are brought up condition them to be a financial support for their family or see their family suffer from the lack of rudimentary requirements of life.