10.06.2026

Afghan Families Selling Children As Poverty Deepens

​Extreme poverty, international aid cuts, and severe droughts have forced desperate Afghan fathers to arrange the sale of their daughters into early marriages or domestic labor to prevent their families from starving. According to United Nations estimates, three out of four Afghans cannot meet their basic daily needs. Over 4.7 million people live just one step away from famine, with remote areas like the Ghor province experiencing the highest levels of extreme deprivation. Mass unemployment has left day laborers with virtually no income, with some finding only a few days of work over multiple weeks. Deep cuts to foreign humanitarian assistance have stripped away the safety nets that previously kept communities afloat. Prolonged droughts have wiped out local agriculture, eliminating self-sustaining food sources. Families frequently resort to these transactions to buy basic food staples, like bread and water, or to pay for urgent medical care for their other sick children. Arranging marriages for very young girls is a frequent practice throughout the region. The groom's family - often distant relatives - pays money to seal the deal, and the child usually stays with her own parents until she is at least around 15 or 16. 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.
Credit: BBC