Save the Children has published Afghanistan's Children, a compilation of the fears, hopes and harsh experiences of 1,500 children from the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul to the refugee camps in Pakistan.
Barbara Mitchelmore, chair of the Scottish Council of Save the Children, said she hoped their moving and compelling stories would 'ensure that those rebuilding Afghanistan always keep their needs, rights and opinions in mind'.
The children's experiences, told through stories, poems and pictures, were due to be presented to the United Nations Special Summit on Children in New York, which was cancelled after the 11 September terrorist attacks.
Among their harrowing accounts are descriptions of seeing their parents being killed, how they were forced into marriage at the age of 12 or what it is like to pick scraps from the streets. About 50,000 children are destitute, living on the streets of Kabul.
A 12-year-old called Nazif told the charity, 'Peace is not sold anywhere in the world, otherwise I would have bought it for my country.' Hamial, a ten-year-old refugee boy who lost a leg in a bomb explosion, said, 'We won't be happy in our lives until the guns have been taken from the people.'
Save the Children has warned that 100,000 Afghan children could die this winter from cold, hunger, respiratory infections and preventable diseases unless they get enough food and other supplies. Ascension Martinez, the charity's Afghanistan health co-ordinator, said, 'The bitter Afghan winter has now begun, and the narrow window of opportunity is shrinking by the day. Most of those who were forced from their homes by drought or conflict are left with nothing over their heads except the thin cloth of a makeshift tent, and children and their families will die from cold, hunger and disease if we cannot reach them quickly enough.
* See the special report on pages 10 and 11.