AFP - War and poverty have taken a huge toll on Afghanistan's children, forcing many into armed militias, marriage or the streets, according a project launched to help those most at risk.

Despite relative stability since the fall of the Taliban government in late 2001, some families are unable to cope, resulting in an "alarming" increase in the number of children sent to orphanages, the plans says.

No child or family in Afghanistan has escaped the social, economic and emotional turmoil brought about by more than two decades of conflict and displacement, says the National Strategy for Children "at risk".

"Twenty-three years of war, civil unrest and dislocation together with drought have exacerbated poverty, which is now endemic throughout the country.

"Traditional family and community support networks are stressed or disrupted.

"Many destitute families have been forced to send their children into the streets to work or beg, to workshops where labour is forced and heavy, to the fighting forces in search of income and their girls into early or forced marriage."

With more than half the population of Afghanistan under the age of 19, more Afghan lives have been shaped by war than by stability and peace, it says. "They have lost much-loved ones, homes, playmates, schools; they are the generation that lost its childhood."

Studies indicated that there were an estimated 8,000 underage soldiers in various factions in the country, most of them boys from poor families, it said.

A 2002 survey counted 37,000 children on the streets of the capital, more than a third of whom had never gone to school and about 70 percent of whom worked more than eight hours a day.

And more than half of the number of girls aged under 16 are married, the strategy says.

Of particular concern was the number of children being admitted to orphanages, an indication that extended family networks traditionally relied on in Afghanistan were unable to cope with poverty, unemployment and homelessness.

There were about 8,000 children in orphanages across the country, but studies showed that about 80 percent had a living parent, it said.

"Placement of these children in orphanages is used as a coping mechanism by destitute families, rather than as a child protection measure," the plans says.

About two-thirds of the children in institutions could be returned to their extended family, the best place for a child to grow up, if there were some support, the reports says.

The plan, launched at a ceremony of government ministers and aid groups, outlines various steps the government and aid agencies should take over the next years to help children, including dealing with poverty, shelter and health care.

It focuses on those most at risk, including children with disabilities, those who are on the street or have been trafficked, child soldiers and girls forced into marriage.

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