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Watchdog reports over 2,000 children killed or wounded in 2020
Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) reported Tuesday as many as 2,019 children have been killed or injured in the conflict in 2020.
In its annual report on the children’s rights situation in 2020 in Afghanistan, released Tuesday, the AIHRC stated child casualties as a result of ongoing violence and clashes across the country have dropped to 25.1 percent compared to 2019.
AIHRC data, however, indicates a 16 percent increase in violence against children in 2020 compared to 2019.
“Physical, mental, economic, sexual, and other forms of violence have been recorded,” the organization said.
“Out of 1,391 child victims of violence, 948 are boys (68.2 percent), and 443 are girls (31.8 percent),” the report read.
“This research reflects the human rights situation of 5,318 children (3,807 boys, and 1,509 girls) from 28 provinces of the country. 19.3 percent of these children are between 7 and 11 years of age, and 80.7 percent of them are between 12 and 18 years old,” the AIHCR stated.
“In 1399 (2020), 628 (45.1 percent) of children included in the study, were victims of psychological violence, 606 (43.6 percent) were victims of physical violence, 44 (3.2 percent) victims of economic violence, and 34 (2.4 percent) were victims of sexual violence; and 79 (5.7 percent), were victims of other types of violence that are not listed under verbal-psychological, physical, economic and sexual violence.”
This comes as UNAMA in its latest report said Tuesday that civilian casualties have increased following the start of peace talks in September 2020.
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Girls’ education is a ‘vital issue’ for Afghanistan: Karzai
Former president Hamid Karzai said in a meeting with Iran’s ambassador and special representative, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, that education of girls was a “vital issue” for Afghanistan.
Karzai said he appreciated Iran’s cooperation and its standing with the Afghan people, especially Iran’s contributions to education in Afghanistan.
During the meeting, Karzai said peace and stability in the region are in the interest of all regional countries.
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Uzbekistan’s humanitarian aid arrives in Balkh
A shipment of humanitarian aid from Uzbekistan was handed over on Thursday to the local officials of Balkh province in the trade port of Hairatan.
Local authorities said the aid, which includes flour, oil, wheat, sugar and meat, has been handed over by Uzbekistan’s Surkhandarya governor to the governor of Balkh.
The governor of Surkhandarya stated the purpose of sending this aid was to support the people of Afghanistan and stressed the need for the development of good relations between the two countries.
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Afghanistan’s problems caused more damage to Pakistan than 3 wars with India: Durrani
Islamabad’s special envoy for Afghanistan Asif Durrani said on Wednesday that Pakistan has suffered more due to Afghanistan’s internal situation than Pakistan has suffered in three wars with India in terms of blood spilt and finances drained.
Durrani said at a one-day International Conference titled “Pakistan in the Emerging Geopolitical Landscape”, which was organized by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) and the German Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES), that over 80,000 Pakistanis died in the two decades of the War on Terror and that his country was still counting its dead and injured.
“After the withdrawal of NATO forces, it was hoped that peace in Afghanistan would bring peace to the region. However, such expectations were short-lived,” he said.
He also stated that attacks by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group on Pakistan’s border areas increased by 65 percent, while suicide attacks increased by 500 percent.
“The TTP’s enhanced attacks on Pakistan while using Afghan soil have been a serious concern for Pakistan. Another worrying aspect is the participation of Afghan nationals in these attacks,” he said.
Durrani also said Pakistan had suffered geopolitically since the Soviet Union invaded the neighboring country.
“The post-9/11 world order has negatively impacted Pakistan. Apart from losing 80,000 citizens’ lives, including 8,000 law enforcement agency personnel, the country’s economic opportunity cost is estimated at $150 billion,” Durrani said.
Talking about the future outlook for Pakistan in the regional context, Durrani said that while “our eastern neighbor is likely to continue with its anti-Pakistan pursuits, the western border poses an avoidable irritant in the short to medium term.”
However, he said Pakistan can overcome its difficulties with Afghanistan, including the TTP challenge.
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