Najiba holds her nephew Shabir (2), who was injured in a bomb blast that killed his sister, in Kabul, Afghanistan, in March. The bomb exploded in a relatively peaceful part of Kabul while Shabir’s mother was walking the children to school. Although the 2001-2014 Afghan War has formally ended, conflict continues in the country, with the Taliban as the chief insurgents and the US and other international forces backing the Afghan military. Fighting moved closer to villages and cities, with an upsurge in suicide bombings and targeted attacks aimed at destabilizing civilian life. According to the UN, child casualties rose 24 percent in 2016, to 2,589 wounded and 923 killed.
