I had heard of underaged girls being married to middle aged men well before the latest Taliban takeover.
However, the details in the following article from U reveal increasing stories of girls and even toddlers being sold due to desperate poverty occuring in Afghanistan.
"From the day that the Taliban entered Kabul city and came into power, in addition to other problems extreme poverty has gripped the country. For more than two months, more the 90% of our people have lost their jobs. Unfortunately, the Taliban are unable to manage and control the country; they are even unable to pay salaries to those who work with them. The situation in Afghanistan is terrible in these days. Insecurity, kidnapping and poverty have highly increased. So far, several people have died of starvation, and some families have had to sell their children to prepare food. Here are some examples.
Najiba is an underage girl. Her father sold her for 50,000 AFN ($806) because of poverty a few days ago. Fortunately, with the financial help of some kind men, Najiba was returned back to her home.
A family in western Afghanistan, in an IDPs camp, due to poverty decided to give their two small daughters to two boys of another family in exchange for money. They said their first daughter, Fereshteh, is six years old and their second daughter, Shukriyah, is 18 months old. Fereshteh was given for $3,350 and Shukriyah for $2,800. The money is to be paid in several installments to the family over several years. And after that, these two sisters must get married to the boys of that family. They also mentioned that the future husbands of their daughters are also underage.
Another family at the same IDPs camp in Badghis Province was forced to give their three-year-old daughter, Zakara, to a 14-year-old boy 'Zabiullah'. The family borrowed money from Zabiullah's father and gave their daughter to his son in exchange for loans.
Last week, eight children from a family died of starvation in west Kabul. They lost their parents a few months ago. Before the Taliban came into power, the neighbors fed these children, but after the incomes of families was cut off, the neighbors stopped helping them, at the result was that the children lost their lives.
Unfortunately, the United Nations has not paid much attention to the situation in Afghanistan, and we can even say that the United Nations and some powerful countries that played a role in the destruction of Afghanistan are watching the misery of our people and are doing nothing to change the situation."
Update, 7 December 2021: The desperate situation of selling one's children for food is continuing in Afghanistan.
This photo of a baby girl was posted on Afghan social media, with a post telling that due to poverty, her family decided to sell her for 20,000 AFN in Kabul City.
Images supplied by U