Children safer in Kabul than New York, Glasgow, London: NATO envoy

KABUL - Mark Sedwill, NATO’S top civilian chief in Afghanistan, has claimed that war-ravaged Kabul is a safer place for children to grow up than most Western cities like New York, London or Glasgow.

Sedwill insisted that despite the danger of unexploded bombs, children in the Afghan capital faced fewer threats compared to many Western cities.

“In Kabul and the other big cities there are very few bombs. Children are probably safer here than in London, New York or Glasgow or many other cities. Most children can go about their lives in safety,” The Sun quoted him, as saying.

However, many Afghan civilians still regard Kabul as a dangerous place to live.

The paper quoted a 16-year-old student as saying that he does not feel safe while going to school, adding, “It’s frightening because of explosions in the city. We are afraid of explosions in school.”

Meanwhile Justin Forsyth, chief executive of UK’s ‘Save the Children’, said that it was wrong and misleading on the part of Sedwill to claim that children in Kabul are safer than those living in Western cities.

“Afghanistan is the worst place on earth to be born a child - one in four children living there will die before they reach the age of five,” he added. (ANI)