Families across Afghanistan are increasingly selling young daughters into marriage as a desperate measure to survive extreme poverty and a collapsed economy. This surge in child marriage is driven by the withdrawal of foreign aid and the restrictive governance of the Taliban regime .

The 5-year-old bride and the cost of medical care

In the Ghor province of Afghanistan, the desperation of parents has reached a point where children are treated as commodities for biological survival. According to the report, a father named Saeed Ahmad sold his five-year-old daughter, Shaiqua,to a relative after the child developed a liver cyst and appendicitis. Because Ahmad could not afford the medical expenses, the relative paid for the treatment in exchange for the girl eventually becoming a daughter-in-law after five years of payments.

Similarly, another father, Abdul Rashid Azimi, has considered selling one of his seven-year-old twin daughters, Roqia or Rohila. Azimi believes the payment from such a transaction would provide enough funds to feed his other children for approximately four years. These cases highlight a landscape where the lack of a social safety net transforms children into financial assets for starving families.

Why 75% of Afghans cannot afford basic needs

The prevalence of child marriage is a direct symptom of a crushing economic depression where three out of every four Afghans are unable to afford their daily basic necessities. As reported, the Taliban's sociopolitical environment since 2021 has exacerbated this crisis by banning women and girls from working in most sectors and studying. these policies have reinforced cultural prejudices that view girls as financial burdens during times of hardship, while boys are seen as the primary breadwinners.

This economic collapse is compounded by a decaying healthcare infrastructure and rampant unemployment. For families in Afghanistan, the inability to access basic medicine or food means that the survival of the collective often comes at the expense of the youngest girls, who are trapped between a restrictive legal framework and an economy that offers no path to independence.

The 30% drop in UN-reported aid packages

The current humanitarian catastrophe is deeply tied to the drastic reduction of international support. For two decades, Afghanistan relied heavily on foreign aid, particularly from the United States and the United Kingdom. However, following the political transition in 2021, these nations slashed their aid packages. The United Nations reports that Afghanistan now receives less than 70% of the aid it received in the previous year.

While the Taliban leadership argues that the previous administration created an artificial economy dependent on US dollars, the immediate result for the citizenry is extreme deprivation. This funding gap has crippled the ability of international organizations to provide essential food and medicine, pushing more families toward the edge of survival and increasing the likelihood of child marriage as a coping mechanism.

The 5.9 million returnees straining a broken system

Adding to the instability is a massive demographic shift caused by the return of Afghan citizens from neighboring countries. Since September 2023, approximately 5.9 million Afghans have returned from Iran and Pakistan, representing roughly 10% to 12% of the total population. UN Humanitarian Coordinator Tajudeen Oyewale has noted that women and children remain the most vulnerable group in this crisis.

Many of these returnees are skilled laborers who have lost their ties to their original communities and now face a depleted food supply and failing infrastructure. The UN predicts that millions more will return by the end of the year, further intensifying the pressure on an economy that is already unable to support its existing population.

The silence of the Taliban on child marriage protections

While the report highlights the Taliban's defense of their economic inheritance, it leaves several critical questions unanswered. specifically, there is no mention of whether the Taliban regime has implemented any legal protections to prevent the sale of children, or if they are actively ignoring these transactions to maintain social stability in impoverished provinces. Furthermore, it remains unclear how international humanitarian organizations are attempting to track these marriages under the regime's restrictive monitoring laws.