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rug

(82,333 posts)
Fri May 17, 2013, 06:20 PM May 2013

Child refugees flee war in Afghanistan

60 MINUTES, Sunday, May 19 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

As the U.S. military continues its exodus from Afghanistan, the long war has caused another exodus few know about in the U.S. Thousands of mostly teenage boys have fled their war-torn country to embark on a 10,000-mile trek to Europe that most will not complete -- many because they die along the route. Anderson Cooper reports on one of the largest child migrations in modern times on

Ali Hassan is one of the lucky ones. After a four-year journey on which he nearly died several times, this enterprising 15-year-old Afghan boy lives a better life in Sweden, where he and others are given room, board and schooling. To get there Afghans ride under trucks, in secret compartments in vans and make dangerous water crossings. Ali Hassan almost froze to death in a refrigerated truck. "Two days, two nights and four hours," he tells Cooper of his ordeal in the cold truck that was on a ferry from Greece to Italy. He says he was wearing only jeans and a T-shirt. "I can't shake my hand. My foot. On that time, also, I was think that maybe I will die."

But for every Ali Hassan, there are several other boys who didn't make it to Sweden. Many died as stowaways on dangerous trips, some were turned into sex slaves or got diverted in menial jobs trying to earn the money to pay smugglers to take them on the next leg of the journey. Hassan said his life was threatened by smugglers. 60 Minutes spoke to one in Pakistan who said 35 percent, at most, would make it to Europe.

"If, on the way, any child dies, we won't notify their parents for one or two months. Then after time has passed, the pain will not be that great," the smuggler says. "We try to convince parents that dying is a natural thing and it's not our fault." Afghan parents pay up to $15,000 to have their children smuggled to Europe, an amount often the sum of their life savings.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57584838/child-refugees-flee-war-in-afghanistan/

Video preview:

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50146966n

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Child refugees flee war in Afghanistan (Original Post) rug May 2013 OP
... BlueToTheBone May 2013 #1
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