AFGHAN BOY WEAVES RUG WITH HIS BROTHERS IN KABUL, 2001-12-09 (photo)

Twelve year old Arshad's (C) tiny fingers dart deftly among the coloured threads stretched over a simple loom where he and two of his four brothers sit weaving a brightly patterned Afghan rug in Kabul December 9, 2001. After five years of making kilims, rising well before dawn and toiling 11 hours a day, Arshad is expert at the centuries-old skill. Child labour is endemic in Afghanistan, where 23 years of war, three years of drought and the absence of a conventional economy have made the central Asian country one of the world's poorest. Picture taken Decmeber 9, 2001 REUTERS/Damir Sagolj DS/WS