How Conflict in Afghanistan Impacts Women and Girls

“How can I feel when a piece of my heart goes out and works for others,” said Laila’s mother, Shugofa*. “But what could I do? I felt sorry that my child must work cleaning people’s rubbish and dirt.”

Up to one-fifth of families in Afghanistan have been forced to send their children out to work as incomes have plummeted in the past six months, with an estimated one million children now engaged in child labor.

As families sink further into debt and poverty, 7.5% said they were begging or relying on charity to feed their families. 

“Not having a breadwinner and having five children without a father, you can imagine how difficult it is … We sometimes eat only once a day, and other times we eat bread on its own, three times a day. I make the children eat less or once a day so that the food lasts for one more day. And we cook smaller quantities, to avoid running out of food for the next day. My children are weak and skinny.” 

Save the Children is providing families with urgent cash assistance and winter kits with essential items to get them through the winter. Cash assistance helps to prevent families from resorting to desperate measures that adversely affect children, such as child labor, early marriage and reduced meals.