The U.S. State Department has released its annual report on the state of human rights in Afghanistan for 2024, revealing that armed groups backed by the Taliban recruited children as soldiers between April 2023 and March 2024.
While the report does not specify which armed groups were involved, it cites United Nations data showing that the Taliban itself recruited at least 345 boys under the age of 18 in 2023. Among them, 150 were assigned combat roles, while 192 served in support functions.
This comes despite the Taliban’s own announcement, made the previous year, banning the recruitment of child soldiers.
According to the report, on June 15, Taliban forces in Badakhshan recruited around 30 children aged 10 to 18 and placed them in a special military training center. The district governor reportedly warned the children’s families not to interfere or file complaints about their recruitment.
The U.S. State Department, citing local sources, said the training program began in mid-May 2024.
The report also highlights the continued prevalence of child marriage and forced marriage throughout the country, noting that the Taliban has failed to enforce the former republic-era law setting the minimum marriage age at 18 for boys and 16 for girls.
Quoting UN Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett, the report states that women and girls deprived of education are at heightened risk of forced and early marriage. Bennett pointed to the Taliban’s role in facilitating such practices, adding that the group provides no meaningful protection against forced marriage or domestic violence.
According to UNICEF estimates, 38.9 percent of women aged 15 to 49 in Afghanistan were married before the age of 18.
The State Department also cited a Washington Post report indicating that 116 families in Herat’s Green Town were waiting to sell their daughters into marriage, while 118 girls had already been “sold as brides.”
