Innocent Afghan victims of war caught in crossfire

By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan (AA) – As the world observes International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression on June 4, children in Afghanistan are increasingly getting caught in the crossfire as the Taliban and the Afghan government forces open new battlefronts on the heels of US withdrawal.

With the September 2021 deadline for the US withdrawal from Afghanistan nearing, violence across the country has touched new heights and engulfed new areas.

- Child victims of aggression

The famous orchards of restive southern Kandahar province would usually have bustling scenes at this time of the year with groups of young boys and children busy nurturing the fruit trees for a promising yield.

But owing to the resurging fighting between the Afghan forces and advancing Taliban, the hallmark pomegranate, apricot, and apple gardens are deserted at the peak harvest season, with children vanished from the sight.

Fleeing the deadly violence, Abdul Sami of the Arghandab district told Anadolu Agency that the carpeting of landmines by the Taliban in the district before the security forces took back control of the area has killed dozens of children and left many more seriously injured and disabled.

“My young brother around the age of 16 lost both of his legs when he was helping an elderly neighbor defuse an improvised landmine in front of our home last month,” said Sami.

Similar tragic accounts were shared by many more internally-displaced families of the Arghandab district who took refuge in the provincial capital Kandahar city.

“My brother who is just 14 years old was busy watering the orchards in the night when a landmine hit him,” said Shams Ullah, another IDP (internally displaced person) from the area.

The Mirwais Hotak Regional Hospital in Kandahar has for months been home to dozens of young Afghan landmine victims from this lush-green district otherwise globally known for its pomegranates.

According to the provincial police command, the engineering corps of the Afghan National Army defused more than 5,000 landmines in this single district last month alone after the Taliban fled.

“A dedicated 60-member team has been busy clearing gardens, streets, and even residential homes of the deadly landmines that have particularly affected children,” Afghan National Police spokesman Jamal Nasir told Anadolu Agency.

- Children suffering disproportionately

According to a local rights activist and poet, Ibrahim Spesalay, Afghan children are among the most unfortunate in the world, and within the country, those living in remote and restive areas such as Arghandab have no hope left.

“When you are not safe in home, gardens, schools, and mosques, which under normal circumstances have nothing to do with the battlefronts, then understand that life has ended at such places,” he commented.

Spesalay​​​​​​​ said there are many IDPs taking refuge in Kandahar who are tired of the raging war, but are unable to go back to their homes, fearing the loss of their loved ones.

In its annual Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict report, the UN noted that children continued to suffer disproportionately from explosive remnants of war, comprising 80% of all civilian casualties caused by these dangerous devices.

A UN spokesman in Afghanistan, Liam McDowall, told Anadolu Agency that last year alone, up to 2,619 children casualties -- 760 killed and 1,859 injured -- were recorded in the country.

“In 2020, explosive remnants of war caused 394 civilian casualties -- 103 killed and 291 injured -- 24% fewer casualties compared to the previous year. This unexploded or abandoned ordnance remained extremely harmful particularly to children, who comprised 80% of all civilian casualties in this type of incidents,” said the report.