AP PHOTOS: Backbreaking work for kids in Afghan brick kilns

By EBRAHIM NOROOZI
Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Aid agencies say the number of children working in Afghanistan is growing ever since the economy collapsed following the Taliban takeover more than a year ago. Nowhere is it clearer than in the brick factories outside of the capital, Kabul. Children as young as four or five labor alongside their parents from early in the morning until late at night, doing backbreaking tasks like hauling wheelbarrows full of bricks. Their families say they have no choice, the work is needed to put food on the table. A recent survey by Save The Children estimated that half of Afghanistan’s families have had to put their children to work.