The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission’s (AIHRC) in Kandahar on Wednesday raised concerns about child soldiers fighting for both the security forces, particularly with local police, and the Taliban.

The organization said the Taliban use teenagers and children in their first line of battle and to plant mines.

According to the commission, more than 20,000 children are either fighting in the first line of battle or are employed as manual laborers in Kandahar and Zabul provinces.

“Unfortunately this problem exists in the country – particularly in southern parts where militants are using children and teenagers in suicide attacks and for planting mines. This problem exists among security forces particularly among local police force members,” the AIHRC’s Kandahar office spokesman Abdul Aziz Akrami said.

He said most of the children are either orphans or are from internally displaced families.

“They [people] don’t have access to job opportunities. Their families have to send them [children] to work. Therefore, they engage in manual labor instead of going to school,” he added.

Meanwhile, the deputy head of local police in Kandahar, Brigadier General Sekandar Asghari, rejected the reports and said there are no children serving in the ranks of the local police force in the province.

“We went to provinces and assessed the issue. We found that no child has been recruited in our police (force),” he said.