Afghan Families Sell Girls as Young as 2 Into Marriage as Drought Destroys Livelihoods
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Oct 15
Afghan Families Sell Girls as Young as 2 Into Marriage as Drought Destroys Livelihoods
1 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 15
Summary
Girls as young as 2 are being promised in marriage across Badghis and Herat as families use bride prices to repay debts, buy food, cover medical costs or survive displacement.
Badghis, where 95% of people depend on rain-fed farming and livestock, has been hit by repeated droughts that wiped out wheat harvests, dried pasture and forced thousands from villages into camps or slums.
Bride prices typically range from 90,000 to 150,000 afghanis, but the money often barely eases hardship; one family still owed 1,000 afghanis in rent, while another sold a 10-year-old boy’s kidney for 100,000 afghanis.
Girls interviewed described fear, shame and crying, while mothers said child brides face beatings, early pregnancy and severe health risks in a country with among the world’s highest maternal mortality.
Aid cuts are worsening the crisis, with support programs and clinics shrinking even as drought-driven poverty pushes more families to treat daughters as a last asset for survival.