Afghan girl, 6, reportedly sold for marriage to 45-year-old man with 2 wives
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A six-year-old girl in Afghanistan was allegedly sold by her father to a 45-year-old man who she was forced to marry.
A photo of the pair standing next to each other horrified the Taliban, prompting the group to intervene in Helmand province, Amu.tv reported.
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The girl’s father and the groom, who reportedly already has two wives, were arrested, according to the outlet. However, neither man faced any charges and it appears the marriage still stands.
The groom was reportedly told by the Taliban that he would have to wait until the girl was nine before he could take her home.
A renewed crackdown on women’s rights has snowballed in recent years after the Taliban banned the education of girls in 2021, UN Women reported last year. There has also been a 25% rise in child marriages in Afghanistan.
Additionally, child-bearing across the country has seen an uptick of 45%.
Last year, the Taliban rejected criticism from the United Nations over new vice and virtue laws that ban women in Afghanistan from baring their faces and speaking in public places.
Roza Otunbayeva, who heads the UN mission in the country (UNAMA), said the laws provided a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future, adding that the laws extend the “already intolerable restrictions” on the rights of women and girls with “even the sound of a female voice” outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation.
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An official with the extremist government previously said women lose value if their faces are visible to men in public.
The Taliban also said women could no longer teach, visit mosques, attend seminaries, fun fairs, parks and gyms in its ongoing crackdown on women’s rights.
There has been a reported rise in female suicides and UNICEF said the education ban will create harrowing repercussions for generations to come.
“With fewer girls receiving an education, girls face a higher risk of child marriage with negative repercussions on their well-being and health,” the United Nations agency for children said.
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