STORY: Afghan official urges int'l community to help orphans, disabled people
DATELINE: July 27, 2023
LENGTH: 00:02:05
LOCATION: Kabul
CATEGORY: SOCIETY
 
SHOTLIST:
1. various of people with disabilities in Kabul, Afghanistan
2. SOUNDBITE 1 (Pashto): MAWLAWI SHAH MOHAMMAD DOST, Chief of office of the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs of Afghanistan
3. various of people with disabilities in Kabul, Afghanistan
4. SOUNDBITE 2 (Pashto): MAWLAWI SHAH MOHAMMAD DOST, Chief of office of the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs of Afghanistan
5. various of people with disabilities in Kabul, Afghanistan
6. SOUNDBITE 3 (Pashto): MAWLAWI SHAH MOHAMMAD DOST, Chief of office of the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs of Afghanistan
7. various of people with disabilities in Kabul, Afghanistan
 
STORYLINE:
 
The international community is expected to help the orphans and people with disabilities in war-torn Afghanistan to recover and stand on their feet, an Afghan official told Xinhua in an interview on Tuesday.
 
SOUNDBITE 1 (Pashto): MAWLAWI SHAH MOHAMMAD DOST, Chief of office of the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs of Afghanistan
"Our demand for the international community, especially the Islamic countries and aid agencies, is to help those who are with disabilities or orphans in Afghanistan until they recover and achieve self-sufficiency."
 
These people in the impoverished country have no shelter and not enough food, the official said, adding that these underprivileged members of society deserve support to have access to shelter and schools.
 
Around 600,000 people who are with disabilities, orphaned or widowed have been registered with the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs, the official said, citing that 350,000 are orphans, 195,000 are disabled and the remaining are widows who have lost their husbands due to decades of armed conflict.
 
SOUNDBITE 2 (Pashto): MAWLAWI SHAH MOHAMMAD DOST, Chief of office of the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs of Afghanistan
"The United States bombarded Afghanistan for 20 years and placed innumerous mines on lands."
 
SOUNDBITE 3 (Pashto): MAWLAWI SHAH MOHAMMAD DOST, Chief of office of the Acting Minister for the Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs of Afghanistan
"No area has escaped from the U.S. bombardments in Afghanistan, especially the southern region like Kandahar and Helmand. There are villages that were entirely destroyed, without male members in a family survived. Thirty to 35 orphans and widows survived in the families and all male members were martyred.
We also have such cases in Nangarhar that all male members of the family were martyred and only orphans and widows survived."
 
The Ministry of Martyrs and Disabled Affairs, besides paying monthly allowances to the orphaned and disabled, has also launched vocational programs to teach them such skills as tailoring, electrical work, lumbering and repairing power generators to help them find jobs, the official added.
 
More than 30,000 civilians had reportedly been killed and countless others had been maimed in the 20 years of the so-called U.S.-led war on terror in Afghanistan.
 
Afghanistan has been regarded as one of the most mine-contaminated countries in the world as countless unexploded devices left over from the past decades of war occasionally claim the lives of Afghans, mostly innocent children, officials said.
 
Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kabul.
(XHTV)