A desperate Afghan father says he is planning to sell his seven-year-old daughter into marriage because it will feed his family for four years.
Abdul Rashid Azimi, from the Ghor province of Afghanistan, told the BBC that the economic situation in his home country, now run by the Taliban, is so dire that he has been forced to make this terrible choice.
He said: ‘I come home from work with parched lips, hungry, thirsty, distressed and confused. My children come to me saying “Baba, give us some bread”. But what can I give? Where is the work?’
He said he is so desperate for money that he needs to sell one of two seven-year-old twins, either Roqia or Rohila.
‘If I sell one daughter, I could feed the rest of my children for at least four years. It breaks my heart, but it’s the only way.’
He isn’t the only man taking this desperate action. Saeed Ahmad said he had already sold his five-year-old daughter, Shaiqua, after she got appendicitis and a cyst on her liver: ‘I had no money to pay the medical expenses. So I sold my daughter to a relative.’
He raised the money by selling her and cutting a deal with his relative: ‘If I had taken the whole sum at that time, he would have taken her away.
‘So I told him just give me enough for her treatment now, and in the next five years you can give me the rest after which you can take her. She will become his daughter-in-law.’
An Afghan father has admitted he is planning on selling his seven-year-old daughter into marriage as it will feed his family for four years
Abdul Rashid Azimi (pictured, centre) has been forced to prepare to sell one of his two duaghters, Roqia (pictured, left) and Rohila (right)
‘Giving away your child at such a young age, carries a lot of anxiety. Underage [marriages] have their problems; however, because I couldn’t pay for her treatment, I was thinking, at least she will be alive.’
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Afghanistan has become increasingly hostile to women, particularly those of a young age, since the Taliban took the country over in 2021.
On top of an already existing cultural perception that boys will grow up to become breadwinners, the Taliban has placed heavy restrictions on women and girls being allowed to study or work.
And the practice of underage marriage remains widespread across the country.
This, coupled with the worsening economic situation in Afghanistan, makes it harder for families to stay together.
A staggering three in four people cannot make their basic daily needs. Unemployment is rife, healthcare systems are struggling and aid that once came in from across the world is now drying up.
Perhaps the most stark cut comes from the US, a nation that was once the biggest donor to Afghanistan which has since slashed nearly all aid to the nation.
Other countries, like the UK, have also followed suit.
The UN says that Afghanistan now gets less than 70% of the aid it did last year.
But the Taliban blames the previous administration. Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban government, told the BBC: ‘During the 20 years of invasion, an artificial economy was created due to the influx of US dollars.
‘After the end of the invasion, we inherited poverty, hardship, unemployment and other problems.’
Despite this, the UN said on Tuesday that it is expecting almost three million Afghans to return to the country by the end of the year, more than half of whom will be women and children.
Abdul Rashid Azimi (pictured) said the economic situation in Afghanistan is so dire that he has been forced to make this terrible choice
An Afghan man carries food aid distributed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Kamdesh district in Nuristan province on April 22, 2026
Taliban soldiers carry a rocket launcher in a vehicle, following exchanges of fire between Pakistan and Afghanistan forces, near Torkham border in Afghanistan, February 27, 2026
Since September 2023, 5.9 million Afghans have returned, mainly from neighbouring Iran and Pakistan, accounting for around 10 to 12 percent of the population.
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About 600,000 Afghans returned in the first four months of 2026 from Iran and Pakistan, the UN report said, adding there were ‘1.7 million estimated returns from Iran and 1.1 million from Pakistan in the coming eight-month period’.
Most of the Afghan returnees are skilled labourers who were born and raised in the neighbouring countries or have been away from their communities for years.
‘They either have weak or no ties to their communities of origin,’ said Tajudeen Oyewale, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan.
Oyewale added that ‘over half of those returning are women and children’ who are the most vulnerable in the country.
The UN and NGOs are calling for over $100million (£75million) for immediate border response for lifesaving assistance at key official crossing points with Iran and Pakistan.
‘This figure only covers 40 per cent of the most vulnerable returnees, even though 70 per cent meet our vulnerability criteria,’ said Thamindri De Silva, Country Director of World Vision International.
However, according to the report, the reintegration response for the returnees requires $428.5 million.
Another report issued this week warned that humanitarian assistance had declined ‘from $1.62 billion in 2024 to $0.91 billion in 2025 – a 43.82 percent reduction’.
