The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
November 22, 2010

NATO Official: Children in Kabul Safer than in NYC or London
------------------------------------------------------------



NATO’s top civilian representative in Afghanistan is coming under
criticism after saying the Afghan capital, Kabul, is probably a safer
city for children than London or New York. Mark Sedwill made the comment
in an interview with the BBC.

Mark Sedwill: "Here, and in Kabul and the other big cities [in
Afghanistan], actually there are very few of those bombs. The children
are probably safer here than they would be in London, New York or
Glasgow or many other cities. Most children can go about their lives in
safety. It’s a very family orientated society. So it is a little bit
like a city of villages."

Justin Forsyth, the head of Save the Children, said Sedwell’s comments
were "wrong or misleading." Forsyth said: "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 ... Last year was the deadliest
for children since late 2001, with more than 1,000 killed because of the
conflict."



.