Afraid to Go Outside: The impact of conflict on children in Afghanistan

For children in Afghanistan, the war has exacted a heavy toll of suffering and continues to pose a number of profound threats. Prolonged conflict exposes children to toxic levels of stress, affects their access to education and health facilities and exposes them to extreme violence. War has become so normal that children risk death or injury every day just going about their daily lives, like walking to school, playing with friends outside or going to the market. A comprehensive survey by Save the Children of nearly 700 parents and children across four conflict-affected provinces of Afghanistan paints a stark picture: children are increasingly too scared to go outside. For a great majority, their journeys to and from school are full of fear.

Widespread insecurity resulting from a conflict now in its 19th year and a lack of reliable data and access to affected populations are just some of the barriers to providing vital services to conflict-affected children in Afghanistan. To best support them it is necessary to understand how children have been affected by the war.

To address this gap in our knowledge, Save the Children in Afghanistan assessed the impact of conflict in aggravating child protection issues in Afghanistan, by speaking directly to children and their parents. Findings from the study seek to inform humanitarian programming and advocacy on how to best protect children affected by conflict in Afghanistan.