Two decades of war and natural disasters, has made Afghanistan one of the world's poorest countries. As a result, the children have suffered worse. Many are disabled due to land mines and other factors of the long war. The situation for hundreds of thousands of Afghan children has become a crisis of survival. Illiteracy, already high in pre war Afghanistan, has soared.
Most Afghan children have no educational opportunities.
Furthermore, in many areas the local authorities have banned women from work and girls from attending schools, as well as limited access to health care facilities. Very little effort has been made to rebuild the nation's health and educational infrastructure or to alleviate other social problems caused by the war. Inc. Presently, aid to Afghanistan from western governments has decreased substantially, due to the sanctions, in response to the local authorities' policies toward women and girls as well as other political, social and regional conflicts. As a result, assistance to Afghanistan is at its lowest level since the Soviets invaded in 1979. Economic sanctions are hurting the most vulnerable group of Afghan society, women and children.