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Pakistan 'Rescues' Child Soldiers
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by Barbara McPherson | July 31, 2009 at 08:57 am
122 views | 34 Recommendations | 3 comments
Pakistan military working in the Swat Valley have rescued child soldiers held by the Taliban. It appears that they were being groomed as child soldiers and as suicide bombers by the Taliban.
They have been brainwashed and trained as suicide bombers, but the nine who I met seemed willing to get back to normal life," Lieutenant General Nadeem Ahmed, who heads a special support group tasked with handling the return of people displaced in the Swat Valley and surrounding areas, told Pakistani state-run television.
"It seems that there are some 300 to 400 such children who the Taliban had taken forcibly or who they were training," Ahmed said.
Some of the abducted children who range in age from six to 15 years of age have been returned home after being indoctrinated in the Taliban way of life.
The problem of child abductions and brainwashing is more widespread than just the Swat Valley. Other juristictions are reporting kidnapping of young boys as well.
Fakhar Rehman, a political and defence analyst, told Al Jazeera that there are reports registered by the police about other abductions, "not only in Swat but also in North and South Waziristan.
Child soldiers are increasingly seen in armed conflicts. International agreements have been signed by many nations to prohibit the participation of those under the age of 18 in armed conflicts. In many cases this has been ignored. Child soldiers perform a variety of tasks to support an army whether formal or rebel. For nations whose citizens have been harmed by child soldiers it is difficult to justify to the population that the child soldier should be treated as a victim firstly. In the conflict in Afghanistan the capture and imprisonment of 'enemy combatents' in Guantanamo Prison has along with adult combatents, swept up those young enough to be classified as child soldiers. For Canadians, the most notable child soldier currently in Guantanamo Prison is Omar Khadr who was 15 years old at the time of his capture.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (3)
at 09:56 on July 31st, 2009
There's something so tragic about child soldiers, they are like lost souls I often think. It's terrible.
at 13:00 on July 31st, 2009
The men who do these things to children should die a slow painful death.
at 22:14 on August 5th, 2009
I have been following this story about the kidnapped kids the Taliban are taking. I was wanting us out of Afghanistan until I heard what they were doing with kids as young as 7 or 8.
Now, I am not so sure....this has to be as heinous as something Pol Pot or Hitler would do. If they kidnap small children to use as cannon fodder, they must be stopped.