Children in Pakistan

According to Pakistani authorities and the UN, at least 3 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) have now been registered as a result from recent fighting and on-going military operations against the Taliban in Pakistan's Swat, Buner, and Lower Dir districts. Refugee families are often made up of only women and children, the older men staying behind to care for their homes and crops. UN humanitarian chief John Holmes issued a desperate appeal for hundreds of millions of dollars to help those who have fled the war, warning that the U.N. can only sustain its current aid efforts for one month. Photographers in the area have captured many powerful images of those affected, some of the most striking focused on children, from which I've collected 38 here for you. Hamida, a six-year old internally displaced girl who fled a military offensive in the Swat valley region, sits outside the food distribution tent at the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district, about 120 km (75 mi) northwest of Pakistan's capital Islamabad June 9, 2009. (REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro) Pakistani children wait for hours in line for dinner at the Yar Hussain camp June 1, 2009 in Swabi, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) Pakistani girls stand near their tents at night May 31, 2009 in Jalozai camp, 15 k from Peshawar, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) A boy stands by as Pakistani men line up to register for ID cards at the Chota Lahore refugee camp, at Swabi, in northwest Pakistan, Wednesday, May 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) Boys, internally displaced from the Pakistan Army's offensive against the Taliban, in Swat and Buner, play on a swing at a relief camp on May 18, 2009 in Swabi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) A young woman peers out from a torn curtain near her tent as the wind and dust blows making conditions in the massive tent city become more difficult May 31, 2009 in Jalozai camp, 15 k from Peshawar, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) Internally displaced children scramble to get a piece of ice being handed out by aid workers at the Chota Lahore relief camp on May 20, 2009 in Swabi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) A Pakistani girl peers over part of a makeshift tent in Chota Lahore Refugee Camp in Swabi, Pakistan on Wednesday, May 20, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Displaced Pakistani boys play on the ruins of a former Afghan refugee house in Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, June 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Boys sit, silhouetted at sunset as women wearing burqas walk past at the UNHCR Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district, in Pakistan on June 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) A displaced girl looks out from her tent in Shah Mansour refugee camp, in northwest Pakistan, Tuesday, June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Pakistani boys play in the dirt next to their tents in Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, Monday, June 8, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A young girl waits for her turn during a food distribution for internally displaced people organized by World Food Program in Mardan, in northwest Pakistan, Tuesday, June 2, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Pakistani children relax in a playground at the Yar Hussain camp June 1, 2009 in Swabi, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) An internally displaced girl from the Swat valley region wears a food bowl over her head while standing in line for curry and bread at the UNHCR Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district in Pakistan on June 2, 2009. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) Boys sell tomatoes while sitting roadside in Mardan, Pakistan on June 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro) Girls watch through a hole in the kitchen tent to see when the food will be ready June 2, 2009 at Jalozai camp in Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) A girl stands next to her tent as wind and rain pound the massive tent city June 2, 2009 at Jalozai camp, 15km from Peshawar, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) A boy uses a sheet as a sail during a blustery storm on June 2, 2009 at Jalozai camp in Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) Boys inflate their shalwar pants to help them float in a canal at the Chota Lahore refugee camp, at Swabi, in northwest Pakistan, Saturday, May 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Children splash and play in a canal alongside a relief camp on May 18, 2009 in Swabi, Pakistan. (Daniel Berehulak/Getty Images) A girl, who fled the Swat valley region, bites on a piece of fabric while standing with other children early morning at the UNHCR Yar Hussain camp in Swabi district in Pakistan on June 7, 2009. (REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro) A boy looks away as grieving family members and friends surround the casket of Umer Amin, age 23, at his funeral June 7, 2009 in the village of Phoolgrah, just outside of Islamabad, Pakistan. Amin was a security policeman killed during the previous night's bomb blast attacking a police emergency helpline. The suicide blast which killed two police officers and wounding 3 was the latest in a series of attacks on civilian and security targets seen as retribution by the Taliban for Pakistan's and on-going military operations. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) A displaced girl does the washing in a river next to her tent at the Chota Lahore refugee camp, at Swabi, in northwest Pakistan, Friday, May 29, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Boys, wearing headbands inscribed with the shahada, the Muslim profession of faith "There is no god but God and Muhammad is the prophet of God," are photographed on the sidelines of an anti-U.S. demonstration organized by the Islamic political party Jamaat-e-Islami in Karachi, Pakistan on June 7, 2009. (REUTERS/Athar Hussain) A boy covers his head with a cooking pot during a sand storm at the Chota Lahore refugee camp, at Swabi, in northwest Pakistan, Wednesday, June 3, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A Pakistani girl is held by her mother as Doctor Adnan Khan listens to her chest at a medical tent June 2, 2009 at Jalozai camp, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) Sameulllah Sahavzda, 13, recovers from injuries at a hospital in Peshawar, in northwest Pakistan, Saturday, May 16, 2009. The boy was injured by an air attack which hit his home in the Swat Valley. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) A Pakistani paramedic moves an injured child - a victim of a suicide bombing on a mosque the day before - onto a stretcher upon his arrival at a local hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, Saturday, June 6, 2009. An attacker wearing an explosive vest blew himself up inside a packed mosque during prayers, killing at least 33 people and wounding 40 more in Haya Gai village in Upper Dir, a district next to Swat. (AP Photo/Mohammad Sajjad) Bena, a 12-year-old internally displaced Sikh girl, fleeing military operations in the Swat valley region, bends over to kiss a copy of the Guru Granth Sahib, the holy book of the Sikh faith, while seeking refuge in the Sikh temple Gurdwara Siri Punja Sahib in Hassan Abdal, Pakistan on May 31, 2009. (REUTERS/Adrees Latif) A displaced girl collects water from a water truck in Shah Mansour refugee camp, in northwest Pakistan,Tuesday, June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A girl stands next to her tent as wind and rain pass through the tent city at Jalozai camp on June 2, 2009, 15km from Peshawar, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) Displaced Pakistani boys and girls memorize the Quran, the Islamic holy book, in a madrassa in Shah Mansour refugee camp, in northwest Pakistan, Tuesday, June 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A displaced boy from Swat valley sleeps under a mosquito net outside his tent at the Jalozai refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 26, 2009. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Displaced children give chase to a truck spraying insecticide through the UNHCR Sheikh Shahzad camp in Mardan, Pakistan on June 6, 2009. (REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro) Pakistani children wait for hours in line for dinner at the Yar Hussain camp June 1, 2009 in Swabi, Pakistan. (Paula Bronstein /Getty Images) A girl peers out from a window in a Hindu neighborhood in Lyari, in Karachi, Pakistan, Tuesday, May 5, 2009. Hindu families in the area are warning their daughters to stay indoors after Taliban extremists lured away a 12 year-old Hindu girl and converted her to Islam. The girl was later unable to return to the Hindu community, and was abandoned by the Muslim community. (AP Photo/Greg Baker) An internally displaced boy fleeing a military offensive in the Swat valley cools himself with water at an UNHCR camp in Mardan, Pakistan on May 23 2009. (REUTERS/Ali Imam)