WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Heartbreaking stories shared by the Washington Post reveal the devastating impact of forced child marriages on vulnerable Afghan children. In the face of extreme poverty, parents, grappling with financial desperation, are compelled to sell their daughters, some as young as six, to survive.

Child brides as young as six

The lives of five young girls – Khoshbakht, Saliha, Fawzia, Benazir, and Nazia – are profoundly shaped by the grim realities of forced child marriages. All of them were sold into marriage before the age of nine. They were sold by their parents, who didn’t see another way out of hunger and poverty. If they wanted their families to survive, selling their daughters was the only way to do so.

“I sold my daughter due to poverty and hunger to save the life of the others. I feel guilty but I had no other choice.” – Mohammed Khan, Saliha’s father

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