Linda Thomas Greenfield
Michael Hughes: The US this week raised concerns at the UN about the recruitment and deployment of child soldiers in Afghanistan, a serious criminal activity the Taliban must cease and be held accountable for. However, officials in Washington often suffer from amnesia, forgetting that the U.S. government waived restrictions related to using children in combat to arm the regimes in Kabul before the Taliban takeover.
In remarks at a UN Security Council event on Children and Armed Conflict on Wednesday, April 3, U.S. ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield found it deplorable that “young boys have been recruited as child soldiers” in Afghanistan. The U.S. envoy urged the council and the world that not another second of delay was acceptable as poor children were being used as proverbial cannon fodder.