Terror's Children is a documentary made by Sharmeen Obaid who shows the lives and experiences of children in Afghan refugee camps. Sharmeen talked about the documentary and said that "In the area we filmed in, we found there were absolutely no NGOs apart from UNHCR working with the refugees. And children had to go out and earn a living or starve to death. A lot of these children don't have their parents with them. They fled the bombing for example. Like the garbage picker; he hadn't come with his family. Most of them that get recruited to the Islamic organizations do so of their own free will. Who wouldn't want to go and study at an Islamic religious school as opposed to working 13 hours a day?" This pressure of having to work multiple times a day to keep themselves alive forces them to join anything that will provide them security and stability, however these organizations don't always have the best interests in mind. Through Aid, if this pressure is reduced, they can go for opportunities that will eventually give them a better life.
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Not that I'm drawing a 100% comparison of the two or saying this is completely similar, but I remember studying about how terrorist organizations and cults target exactly these sort of vulnerable members of the community, who need stability, grounding and social connection. So the lack of aid and mounting pressure can have horrifying implications for the future of such organizations. When such organizations do come about, I think we need to acknowledge that we are somewhat responsible too. It is on those around them, on us, to ensure they're given the support to not have to succumb to pressure. And failure to do so on our part results in the presence of societal breakdown, and creation of terrorists and…