Up to 2,000 children are busy in heavy works in brick factories in the eastern province of Nangarhar, local official said. The children are working at the kilns with their families to win bread for their daily life.

“The issue is that the children are working for 12 hours,” said Abdul Hakim Shirzad, head of Nangarhar Labor and Social Affairs Department. “We discussed the legal and humanitarian aspects of this issue with the owners of these brick factories.”

Some families and their children who work in these kilns said they had borrowed money from owners of these kilns and now they are working there to repay the amount of money they received from the factory owners.

Farooq Jan, a resident of Nangarhar, said he works at the kilns with his six children.

He said they borrowed 130,000 Pakistani rupees after returning to Afghanistan, but so far he has not managed to pay the money back.

“I returned four months ago but still I have not been able to repay the money. I work here with my children,” Farooq said.

“I want to learn and I want go to school, but I cannot do so because of the work. I work 13 or 14 hours a day,” said Khorshid, a child working at the kilns.

“We can go to school if we get support and contribute in the rebuilding of our country and in bringing peace to Afghanistan,” said Nemat, another child.

Reports indicate that thousands of children across Afghanistan are subjected to heavy works due to poverty and unemployment.