Afghan families sell girls as brides to survive drought — SkimNews
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- Khatira, 11, was sold into marriage in Qala-e-Naw, Badghis, after her family lost their livelihood to drought, and now avoids her 20-year-old husband-to-be and has stopped leaving home.
- Gul Bobo agreed to engage her two- and five-year-old daughters in Tayz Nāwah, fearing they will be beaten and forced into pregnancy by 14, but says the family had no alternative due to extreme poverty.
- Niaz Mohammad married off four of his daughters as children after crop failures displaced his family from Qadis, saying he would have waited until they were 20 but had to sacrifice one to save the others.
- Surgul engaged his 10- and seven-year-old daughters after enduring three days without food and selling his only solar battery to pay for medicine, having lost an infant previously.
- Khomakha arranged the marriage of her two-month-old daughter Fatemah to afford transport for her eight-year-old son’s weekly cancer treatment, knowing she may never see Fatemah again.
- Abdul Aziz sold five of his daughters into marriage over eight years after repeated wheat harvest failures, receiving between 90,000 and 150,000 afghanis to repay debts.
- Mark Calder of World Vision International warns that early marriage exposes girls to deadly health risks as clinics disappear due to cuts in foreign aid.
Why it matters: Child marriage is now a survival strategy in Badghis, where drought and aid cuts have erased alternatives—families receive minimal bride prices that barely cover rent or medicine, while girls face early pregnancy, violence, and lifelong trauma. The collapse of health and support systems turns a cultural practice into a humanitarian emergency with measurable human cost.
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