Afghan War victims not getting help

Despite having one of the largest war victim populations in Asia, Afghanistan does not have a law on how to deal with hundreds of thousands of war widows, orphans and disabled. Noor-ul-Haq Ulomi, a member of the National Assembly who served the Soviet-backed government in the 1980s, accused the international community and the current Afghan government of failing to heed the plight of war victims. The families of about 100,000 government employees, police officers, soldiers and Mujaheddin fighters killed in fighting between 1979 and 2001 have been registered at the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Martyrs & Disabled, but assistance is minimal: With funds from the World Bank the government pays up to $12 monthly to each family, which amounts to 40 US cents a day. Government officials acknowledge that the real number of victim families is much higher but say they cannot help all of them. Some beneficiaries say the monthly payments they receive can't meet their needs for a single day, and they criticize the payment process as corrupt and bureaucratic.