KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Vanessa Frazier, the United Nations Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, has warned that poverty and economic hardship are making children in Afghanistan vulnerable to recruitment into the Taliban's ranks. In an interview with Voice of America (VOA), Frazier urged the Taliban authorities to end the recruitment of children and recognise 18 as the legal age of adulthood.
M. Muradi no longer wants to return to his home in Malistan district of Ghazni province. The elderly man was forced to leave his home and seek refuge in Kabul a few months ago after spending two weeks in Taliban custody, where he says he was subjected to relentless torture. He now lives with his daughter in Kabul, while his elderly wife and two other daughters remain in Malistan.