01.01.2022

Parents Selling Children Shows Desperation In Afghanistan

Across Afghanistan, mothers and fathers are selling their children to make ends meet as tens of millions face mass starvation. Aid groups say one million children are on the brink of death from malnutrition in the coming winter months - a figure greater than the total number of civilian casualties from the 20-year war. A crippling drought exacerbated by an economic crisis following international sanctions against the new Taliban government has left more than half of Afghanistan’s population facing acute hunger. Many who had a steady income under the previous government are now jobless and unable to buy food. The United States has frozen almost US$9.5 billion (A$13.28 billion) in assets from Afghanistan’s central bank in an attempt to avert funds from getting into the hands of the Taliban. Destitute citizens sold their newborn child for £400, which will get the family ‘through a few months’. Arranging marriages for very young girls is common in the region. The groom’s family pays money to seal the deal, and the child usually stays with her parents until she is at least around 15. Yet with many unable to afford even basic food, some say they’d allow prospective grooms to take very young girls or are even trying to sell their sons. Buying boys is believed to be less common than girls, and when it does take place, it appears to be cases of families without sons buying infants. The desperation of millions is clear as more and more people face hunger, with some 3.2 million children under 5 years old facing acute malnutrition, according to the U.N. Credit: Bloomberg Quicktake ​