The United Nations has launched a reintegration and rehabilitation programme for thousands of former child soldiers in Afghanistan. The UN Children\'s Fund, Unicef, will begin by targeting 2,000 children in the north-east province of Badakhshan. They will be offered education, vocational training and lessons in civic responsibilities. Similar programmes are planned in other areas. Unicef estimates that there are around 8,000 child soldiers in Afghanistan. It says many of them have left armed groups and need urgent assistance to fully reintegrate into civilian life. \"Most former underage soldiers in Afghanistan have missed out on many years of education, and all participants in the programme will receive basic literacy and numeracy tuition,\" Unicef said in a statement. Two years after the fall of the Taleban, much of Afghanistan remains unstable. Large militia factions compete in the north, remnants of the Taleban launch almost daily attacks in the south, and drug related violence racks much of the country. (BBC)