Afghan children kidnapped and sold - UN

Children as young as four are being abducted from Afghan villages and smuggled into neighbouring countries where they are sold, the UN children’s fund said today.

Authorities recently intercepted 50 children who were being trafficked in the region, said Unicef spokesman Edward Carwardine.

“It is a cause of grave concern ... we cannot allow such abuses to continue,” he said in the capital Kabul.

Carwardine did not provide further details about the smuggling or where the children were being taken.

He said the United Nations has sent a team to the north of the country to investigate and the world body has urged President Hamid Karzai’s administration to crack down on the smuggling.

Crime is rampant in Afghanistan following the overthrow of the hard-line Taliban regime by the US led coalition in 2001.

Karzai’s authority does not extend into much of the country. Many provinces are ruled by warlords who maintain small private armies.