Horror as man, 45, allowed to marry girl, 6

A 45-year-old man in Afghanistan has married a six-year-old girl, with the relationship so repulsive that even the Taliban were left “horrified”. US-based Afghan outlet Amu.tv reported that the Taliban ordered that the man waits until the girl turns nine before he takes her home.

According to Hasht-e Subh Daily, the man, who already has two wives, paid the girl’s family money in exchange for her. The ceremony happened in the Marjah district of the country, with the child’s father and the groom later arrested but not charged. Child marriage is common in the country and is often driven by poverty, leaving families believing that selling off daughters as brides is the only way to survive.

Mahbob, a community activist from a rural village, told The Afghan Times: “There are many families in our village who have given away their daughters for money. No one helps them. People are desperate.”

The practice of exchanging girls for marriage is known as walwar and sees them being traded for money based on looks, health and education level.

Money is not the only reason for exchanging girls, with some also exchanged between enemies to end blood feuds.

Amiri, a 50-year-old woman from Uruzgan, told The Afghan Times she married off her 14-year-old daughter to a 27-year-old man for 300,000 Afghanis.

She said: “I knew she was too young, but we had nothing at home. I used the money to feed the rest of my family.”

The practice had reduced in the years following the US-led invasion of the country but has been resurgent since the Taliban returned to power in 2021.

Under the group, women’s rights have been severely restricted, with females forced to cover their entire body, whisper when in public and unable to travel without being accompanied by a male family member.

A UN report last year found that such restrictions have fuelled an increase in the practise of child and forced marriage by as much as 25%.

The treatment of women in the country has been labelled as a crime against humanity by the International Criminal Court who issued arrest warrants for two senior Taliban figures.

The court found that there were “reasonable grounds” to believe that Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and chief justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani were responsible for persecuting women and girls since the group’s return to power.

The group dismissed the findings, calling them “a clear act of hostility” and “an insult to the beliefs of Muslims around the world.”

There is currently no codified minimum age for marriage in Afghanistan, with the Taliban dismissing the previous minimum age of 16 established following the invasion by Western forces in 2001.

Currently, the age at which a girl can be married is based upon an interpretation of Islamic law, which under the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, sets claims that a girl is ready for marriage once she reaches puberty.