Perhaps, Afghanistan has never been kind enough to its women and children, particularly under the rule of Taliban. They suffered the most and faced terrifying miseries in those periods and are still most vulnerable in every aspect of life, despite more than a decade of international efforts in the fight for the rights of children and women.
Current political uncertainty and increasing insecurity contribute in raising an unusual generation whose paralyzed development adds disaster for the state's feeble economy and undermines the impact of billions of dollars in aid that have been raised for health, education, women rights and child rights sectors.
As a result of decades of persistent bloodshed, injustice, extreme poverty and malnourishment, more than half of Afghan girls and boys suffer psychological and physical damages, in most sensitive raising period of the first-five years of life, based on the sayings of experts and doctors.
The finding raises serious questions about the legacy of more than 13 years of western commitment in the country with special contribution; where there is still more than 1.2 million children suffer acutely malnourishment, according to the United Nations humanitarian coordinator.
In addition, around 667,000 Afghans are displaced because of the continuous rise in insecurity and frequent environmental catastrophes that effected 131,000 of them since 2013. Severe flooding affected 150,000 people only this year that forced most of them from their homes.
In response to the ground challenges, the UN special representative in Afghanistan also appealed for USD 405 million to cover the humanitarian needs of the people in Afghanistan in 2015.
Repeatedly, the UN and Afghan government data further indicate that 55 percent of children in Afghanistan are stunted due to insufficient food more than a decade after the fall of the Taliban; there is still huge need of attention. The statistic is a damning one for western powers that have raised billions of dollars in the country to fund development and reconstruction fields. Such funding was aimed to stabilize Afghanistan, but return on the spending seems to have been low or went by in the bank accounts of people in power.
It should be added that severe cases of malnutrition have been reported in the provinces of Helmand, Kandahar, Konar, Farah, Paktia and Paktik. All places where the war has wrecked people’s lives and pushed the poor over the nutritional edge. Medical sources and aid workers have regularly blamed continuing war and refugee displacement for the hunger crisis.
Children, who are not getting enough nutrients from their food, suffer from what is known as chronic malnutrition. The problem afflicts poor countries worldwide but it hits Afghanistan widespread with miserable consequences.
In some ways, children who suffer from chronic malnutrition are harder to treat as their need for help may not be so obvious. "You might see a child who appears underweight, or short for their age, but it does not really tell you much unless you line them up against a well-nourished child. But it chronic malnutrition, prevents them growing up to lead a more productive life”, according to experts.
The lack of iron, which affects three-quarters of Afghan children, reduces activity and productivity. In young children, it disrupts brain development, with effects including stunting, sickness, poor school attendance and lower levels of concentration and memory.
Over the longer term, it can have a very paralyzing effect on the national economy. Young people are not able to attain what they should be able to attain, as a result. Women who marry young and are stunted themselves give birth to a small infant and the cycle repeats on.
As foreign troops prepare to leave the country, violence is spreading and Afghanistan remains one of the world's poorest countries, with low life expectancy and poor health-care facilities for mothers and young children. The malnutrition problem is caused by the basic poverty of those who cannot afford healthy food, as well as poor hygiene and health-care families and dozens of other similar issues.
The majority of families cannot afford even a minimal healthy diet and in some provinces, only one in five could afford regular balanced meals, another UN study suggests.
In addition, poverty is the main pressing problem, in a country where a third of all citizens do not always know where their next meal will come from. A recent UN study found that even a minimal healthy diet was beyond the reach of the majority of Afghans, in some provinces, only one in five could afford regular balanced meals.
Meanwhile, Afghan children are only affected not by malnourishment and lack of proper health care facilities; they are also the victims of high rate of poverty that leads them towards other social violence on daily basis. Human rights activists have raised alarming concerns over the plight of child labor in Afghanistan, noting that most of these youngsters are facing rising levels of violence and sexual abuse.
Afghan children have always been the victims of political and economical instability. The government has repeatedly overlooked their grim rights and plight. Stable, civilized and peaceful nations have contributed extra ordinary care and support to the welfare and well growth of their children for a healthy future. It is about time that the government takes a comprehensive stand for the poor Afghan children so that Afghanistan will also grow in peace, civilization and stability.