The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) for the southern region said on Tuesday that the number of children involved in manual labor has increased, with at least 20,000 working in Kandahar.

Ongoing fighting in Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces is said to be one of the main reasons behind the increase of the number of children employed as laborers.

“Nearly 20,000 child are doing (manual) labor in the province,” Fakhruddin Faiez, deputy head of AIHRC in Kandahar said.

Kandahar local government meanwhile said they have started a range of programs to help poor families economically and that they should not send their children out to work.

“We have provided some facilities. If the families are helped, then their children won’t have to work,” Kandahar governor’s spokesman, Samim Khpolwak said.

Naqibullah and Wahidullah are two brothers who said they cannot afford to go school and work in Kandahar city to help their family.

“I came here (workshop) to work. They told me if you work here, you should leave school,” Naqibullah said.