Foreign Policy: In a Kabul clinic, staff struggle to help teenagers drafted by the Taliban. A report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) in 2016 noted that the Taliban had been training and deploying teenagers for a range of military operations, especially for the placement of IEDs. Emotional manipulation plays an important role in convincing the children to
BBC News: About 3,000 Afghans attempt to take their own lives every year, according to the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). Herat province accounts for more than half of all cases nationwide. Globally, there are more male suicides than female suicides – but in Afghanistan it is estimated that 80% of suicide attempts are made by
NPR: While accurate data on mental health issues are not available in Afghanistan, the World Health Organization estimates more than a million Afghans suffer from depressive disorders and over 1.2 million suffer from anxiety disorders. The WHO says the actual numbers are likely much higher. The mental health toll signifies a hidden consequence of war that is often