Man, 45, marries girl, 6, in ceremony that's left even the Taliban horrified

A 45-year-old man has taken a six-year-old girl as his bride, an act so disturbing that it even left the Taliban 'horrified.'

The man, who is already married to two other women, bought the young girl from her family. The wedding took place in Marjah district, with both the child's father and the groom since detained but not formally charged.

The Taliban has instructed the groom to wait until the child reaches nine before he can take her home.

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Child marriage remains rampant in Afghanistan, often fuelled by poverty, compelling families to sell their daughters into matrimony as a means of survival.

A local activist named Mahbob despaired while speaking to The Afghan Times: "There are many families in our village who have given away their daughters for money. No one helps them. People are desperate."

This bartering of girls for marriage, known as walwar, involves trading them for cash based on attributes like appearance, health, and education.

However, financial desperation isn't the sole motive; some girls are traded to settle blood feuds between enemies.

Amiri, 50 from Uruzgan, opened up about marrying off her 14-year-old daughter to a 27-year-old man for 300,000 Afghanis.

She admitted, "I knew she was too young, but we had nothing at home. I used the money to feed the rest of my family."

The practice had dwindled after the US-led invasion but has surged again since the Taliban's 2021 resurgence.

Under their rule, women's freedoms have been drastically curtailed, with full-body coverings and hushed voices in public mandated. They're also barred from travelling without a male relative.

A UN report last year indicated that such oppression has sparked a 25 per cent rise in child and forced marriages.

The International Criminal Court has slammed the treatment of Afghan women as a crime against humanity, issuing arrest warrants for two top Taliban officials.

The court cited "reasonable grounds" to believe Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani are culpable for the persecution of women and girls since the Taliban's comeback.

The Taliban rebuffed the accusations, deeming them "a clear act of hostility" and an affront to Muslims globally.

Afghanistan lacks a codified minimum marriage age, with the Taliban nullifying the previous age limit of 16 set after the 2001 Western invasion.

Presently, a girl's marriageable age is determined by Islamic law interpretation, with the Hanafi jurisprudence deeming puberty the threshold for readiness.