Foreign Policy: The unceasing conflict in Afghanistan has destroyed the institutions meant to protect children. “Nearly half of the children aged between 7 and 17 years old — 3.7 million — in Afghanistan are missing out on school,” according to the Afghan Central Statistics Organization’s figures in a UNICEF report published this month.  Approximately 2.1 million Afghan children between ages 6 and 14 are involved in some form of child labor, according to the statistics bureau (the U.N. Population Division estimates 2.5 million). Many of them work in jobs hazardous to their safety and health: carrying heavy loads on streets, welding, operating heavy machinery, collecting harmful waste products, and working in factories for long hours. Click here to read more (external link).