Little Rafi was awoken in his bed with his “legs on fire” after flying shrapnel from a Taliban blast pierced the windows of his home.
The two-year-old suffered second degree burns when his blanket caught fire and melted over his legs. And for days Rafi was forced to walk in Afghanistan’s 35ºC heat as his mother desperately tried to find him some medical care.
He is one of 180,000 children who have fled their homes in fear of the Taliban’s ferocious uprising after the US started withdrawing its troops from the region at the beginning of May.
Samantha Mort, a Unicef representative in Kabul, said: “Rafi’s legs were burned very badly. He’s in the Haji camp for internally displaced people in Kandahar after leaving his home in Lashkar Gah.
“His mother said they were asleep when shrapnel came through the window and set his blanket alight.
“The fabric melted very quickly and he woke up with his legs on fire. These children are innocent, they’re in their homes where they should feel safe and protected but the conflict is coming to their doors.”
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Taliban fighters have vowed to enter Kabul within weeks after bringing their forces to within just a few miles of the capital. Militants have already overrun Herat – the largest city in western Afghanistan – and the zealots now hold the majority of the nation’s provincial capitals, alongside large swathes of the countryside.
It comes as a squad of 600 troops prepare to swoop into Kabul to evacuate our embassy and up to 4,000 Brits, contractors and staff.
With the surge in Taliban power, Afghanistan has seen a return to the brutal laws imposed by its fighters Reports claim the militants are tarring men accused of theft and parading them in the streets of Herat.
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Old horrors of rape and forced marriages are also believed to have returned.
Now aid agencies even fear Taliban fighters are recruiting kids to fight on the frontline in Afghanistan. Children are also being coerced to work as cooks and carry out odd jobs in the war-ravaged country.
Sources say there have been barbaric reports of other youngsters being flogged with horsewhips and suffering horrific injuries after their homes were targeted during firefights.
Ms Mort said it had all resulted in “an influx of people” into the capital.
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“There is a great deal of fear and where there has been fighting, and that fighting has come to people’s doors, those people have fled.
“There are 18 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, around 10 million are under the age of 18.
“We are hearing very emotional testimonies of people going about their ordinary lives when the conflict came to their doorsteps.
“Young children were studying fetching water, asleep in their beds, when the bombs started going off and the fighting began. People are fleeing with what they have in their hands.”
But the biggest cause for concern, she said, is “the rise of grave violations against children.”
Ms Mort said: “It’s offences like children coerced to join armed groups, being denied humanitarian aid, or being deliberately killed or maimed.
“We know of a young boy in Fariab, in the northern part of Afghanistan, when anti-government fighters came to his door and demanded the weapon they thought his father had. When they couldn’t find it they tied him up, beat his feet and flogged him with a horsewhip.”
There has also been an increase in the number of children being recruited into armed groups.
“It doesn’t necessarily mean they are being recruited as soldiers,” she said. “It could be cooks, or odd jobs.
“But they are very vulnerable where they can’t be protected and could be caught in the crossfire of fighting.”
Among those to experience the fallout of the Taliban uprising is Zahra, 28, who is now living in a camp in Kabul’s Shahr-e Naw park.
“My brother was martyred by the Taliban the day they took over the province,” she said, referring to the fall of her hometown of Kunduz, in the northern region of Afghanistan.
“Just days after, my younger brother was killed in an explosion when he was caught in the crossfire between the Afghan forces and Taliban.
“My father couldn’t bear the loss of his only sons in such a short period and succumbed to heart attack.”
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Thousands more refugees, including many children, have arrived in Kabul. Eileen McCarthy, who works for the Norwegian Refugee Council in the city, said as many as 10,000 had fled to the city in recent days after the rate of new arrivals “escalated considerably”, and many have serious health issues.
“In Kabul we are seeing a surge of people arriving from provinces all across the country, especially in the north, given the scale of fighting there. “It has been stark to see in parks and open spaces around the city.”
“There’s a high number of female headed households, women arriving with a number of children who haven’t had access to healthcare on the way, so we are seeing many health issues.
‘We should be ashamed of abandoning country’
– Comment by Dan Jarvis, Labour MP and former British Army Major
Some 457 servicemen and women never came home from Afghanistan.
Among them was Cpl Kevin Mulligan, a fearless young Scot who I had the honour of serving with. One of countless tragedies in the conflict.
Given the huge sacrifices, Britain and its allies should be ashamed of where we have ended up. After two decades of a war that has left tens of thousands dead and cost the west trillions of dollars, we left with the Taliban on the verge of retaking power.
We employed a deeply flawed strategy, never changed course, then abandoned the country. Next month marks the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks – a stark reminder of the consequences when Afghanistan is abandoned. Where is the UK Government in all this? I welcome the troop deployment to assist Britons to leave but, beyond that, the strategy has appeared to be to say nothing.
I want to know what we are doing to support the Afghan Government, and why we are slashing aid. Kevin’s loved ones still feel the pain of his loss. Thousands of veterans are suffering. Millions of Afghans have known nothing but bloodshed. They all deserve better than this.