Foreign Correspondent

Afghanistan: Groomed to Kill (2014x8)

Air date: May 06, 2014

As Australian, British and U.S forces withdraw the majority of their troops from Afghanistan, they leave behind a country that remains profoundly threatened by the Taliban. 12 years of war has dented this resolute band of jihadists but it hasn’t broken them, nor their determination to turn as much of this nation as possible over to its uncompromising brand of Islam and Sharia. In a war that’s seen no end of horror and brutality, one of the more confronting tactics has been the use of children to deploy and operate mines, IEDs and as human bombs dispatched on suicide missions. In this story from the Channel 4 Dispatches team, child soldiers – many who’ve been abducted or reluctantly conscripted into service for the Taliban tell of being schooled for deadly attack. They are Afghanistan’s Taliban Generation. They’re kids like 10 year-old Neaz. At 8, he was abducted by the Taliban and groomed for a mission against the invading forces. Neaz managed to break away from camp under cover of night and hiked until he came to a police station where he turned himself in. The authorities wasted no time turning the little escapee into a star in their own propaganda war, showing off Neaz and his story of abduction and conscription on Afghan TV. Many little boys are easy targets for the Taliban. Most of the children in orphanages have lost their parents to the war. Neaz's family was murdered when their village was bombarded by the coalition forces in an attempt to kill hiding rebels. Neaz lost everyone. More than half of Afghanistan’s population is under the age of 18. They have known nothing but conflict and bloodshed. The NATO-supported Afghan government is battling to win over this dominant generation. But children indoctrinated by the Taliban and who’ve suffered or lost loved ones due to the US-led campaign will be hard to reach. They’ll carry their hardened hearts into adulthood and well into Afghanistan’s future.