The Taliban and “other armed groups” in Afghanistan unlawfully recruit and use children in combat and support roles, with some children used to plant explosives, carry weapons, conduct surveillance and guard bases, the US State Department says in its 2026 Trafficking in Persons Report.
The report says the Taliban recruit children through coercion and fraud, including from schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and enroll them in jihadi madrassas that reportedly provide military training.
It specifically names ISIS-Khorasan, or ISIS-K, and the National Resistance Front, saying the groups use child soldiers in direct hostilities to plant and detonate improvised explosive devices, carry weapons, spy and guard bases.
The State Department also says the Taliban and groups such as ISIS-K forcibly use child soldiers and imprison children associated with other armed groups, including children who may themselves be trafficking victims.
The findings are part of the State Department’s annual assessment of human trafficking, which kept Afghanistan in Tier 3, its lowest category.
The report says ministries and other public institutions do not fully meet minimum standards for eliminating trafficking and are not making significant efforts to do so.
During the reporting period, the State Department found a pattern of recruiting and using child soldiers in combat and support roles, as well as a pattern of sexual slavery through bacha bazi, in which boys are exploited by men for social and sexual entertainment.
The report says an international organization secured the release of 58 children from Taliban ranks following engagement with the Taliban and supported their reintegration.
The Taliban have a commission made up of senior members tasked with identifying and demobilizing children from their forces. The State Department, however, says the Taliban did not implement measures to prevent the unlawful recruitment or use of children in combat or support roles.
The report also cites previous accounts that local Taliban members recruited children by falsifying their ages on identification documents.
Bacha bazi remained a concern despite being officially banned, according to the report. Observers reported that Taliban members were perpetrators in some cases, while the report says cases of the practice have been documented involving the Taliban and nearly all armed groups.
Victims of bacha bazi are typically boys between 10 and 18, some of whom are kidnapped or sold by impoverished families, according to the report.
The State Department says Afghan children also face exploitation in bonded labor, domestic service, carpet weaving, brick kilns, agriculture, construction, mining, begging, poppy cultivation, drug and weapons trafficking and other forms of work.
Some impoverished or heavily indebted families sell children to traffickers, force them into labor or begging, or marry underage daughters in exchange for dowry payments or as a means of leaving Afghanistan, the report says.
The report says the Taliban did not report any trafficking investigations, prosecutions or convictions during the reporting period and did not report identifying or providing services to any trafficking victims.
Observers reported that 20 suspected traffickers were arrested in Nimroz province, but the State Department says no details were provided and the cases likely involved other crimes. It also says the Taliban reported no investigations, prosecutions or convictions of their members for alleged complicity in trafficking.
In January, the Taliban introduced a new edict framed as a criminal code that prohibits trafficking and provides prison terms of one to three years for trafficking offenses. The State Department says the edict does not clearly define human trafficking and that the penalties are not sufficiently stringent.
The report also raises concerns about provisions containing terminology that it says implicitly reflects recognition of slavery-related concepts. Legal experts cited in the report expressed concerns about unclear definitions, the conflation of human trafficking with migrant smuggling and reliance on confessions without safeguards against coercion.
The State Department also says restrictions on women’s and girls’ movement, education and employment have significantly increased their vulnerability to exploitation. Returnees from Iran and Pakistan, particularly women, girls and families associated with the pre-August 2021 government, are also identified as vulnerable.
Members of ethnic and religious minorities, including Hazara Shiites and Ismaili Muslims, are increasingly vulnerable to exploitation, according to the report.
The State Department says the Taliban reported no formal procedures for identifying trafficking victims and referring them to protection services. It also says restrictions on nongovernmental organizations, including restrictions preventing Afghan women from working in most sectors, have hindered services for trafficking victims.
The report says potential victims, including children found begging on the streets, were routinely detained without being screened for signs of trafficking. Some child trafficking victims were placed in detention facilities with adults, where they faced physical and sexual abuse and conditions with indicators of forced labor, according to the report.
The State Department notes that its references to the Taliban do not denote or imply US recognition of the Taliban as the government of Afghanistan.