Kabul finds 120 missing children in a year, most of them girls
Authorities in Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, found and reunited 120 missing children with their families over the past year, including 85 girls, according to the Taliban government’s Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, BBC News Dari reports.
The figures cover the Afghan year from March 21, 2025, to March 20, 2026.
Ministry spokesman Mohammad Sadeq Tohidi said that a total of 2,061 children received assistance in Kabul during this period. They included 1,436 children involved in begging, 505 children deported from other countries and 120 who had previously gone missing.
Another 85 children are currently receiving care at a dedicated ministry center.
The figures cover Kabul only. Nationwide statistics on missing children in Afghanistan remain unavailable, the BBC reported.
Families continue searching for missing children
Some families have spent months searching for their children. The BBC reported the case of 14-year-old Sayed Bahram, who left home for school and never returned. His relatives have been looking for him for more than two months.
In another case, five-year-old Fatima disappeared in Kabul’s Pul-e-Charkhi area. Her body was found four days later.
Sher Ahmad Ruhani, a former head of a Kabul police station, told the BBC that some children become lost in the city, while some teenagers attempt to travel independently to Iran through Nimroz province.
According to Ruhani, law enforcement agencies are working with border services and other institutions to locate missing children.
He also claimed that child abductions in Afghanistan had stopped entirely, although this assertion could not be independently verified.
Children face growing risks in Afghanistan
Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, restrictions on education have significantly affected children, particularly girls. Girls are prohibited from attending school beyond the sixth grade, while women are barred from studying at universities.
UNICEF has warned that children separated from their families are particularly vulnerable to violence, exploitation and human trafficking.