16:34 / 21.05.2026

“If I sell my daughter, I can feed my family for four years”— Afghan father

A man living in Afghanistan's Ghor province said he is forced to sell his 7-year-old daughter to keep his family alive. This was reported by the BBC.

It is reported that approximately 4.7 million people in Afghanistan are currently at risk of starvation. Ghor province is considered one of the areas hit hardest by this crisis.

Abdul Rashid Azimi has seven-year-old twin daughters named Roqiya and Rohila. He says that due to the dire economic situation in his family, he has been forced to consider selling one of his daughters.

“I am ready to sell my daughters. I am poor, in debt, and desperate. I return home from work hungry, thirsty, and depressed. My children say, 'Father, give us bread.' But what can I give them?” he said.

According to Abdul, he agreed to sell his daughters for marriage or domestic work.

“If I sell one daughter, I can provide for my other children for at least four years. This decision breaks my heart, but I see no other way,” he says.

The girls' mother, Kaykhan, said the family's situation is extremely dire.

“We are living only on bread and hot water. There is not even tea,” she says.

The article notes that in Afghanistan, boys are seen as future breadwinners. For this reason, some families facing economic hardship are forced to sell their daughters or marry them off early. Restrictions imposed by the Taliban on women's education and employment have exacerbated this problem.

Also, the tradition of paying a bride price to the girl's family during marriage persists in the country. Abdul and Kaykhan's two teenage sons work as shoe shiners in the city, while another collects trash.

The article also mentions the fate of another Afghan man, Said Ahmad. He said he was forced to sell his five-year-old daughter, Shayqa, due to illness.

“My daughter fell ill with appendicitis and a liver tumor. I had no money to treat her. That is why I sold her to a relative,” he says.

It turns out that Shayqa's surgery was successful. The girl was sold for 200,000 Afghanis (about $3,200), and this money was spent on medical expenses.

Said says the girl is currently staying with her family, but in five years, she will have to move to her relative's house to marry their son.

“If I had money, I would never make such a decision. But without the surgery, I could have lost my daughter,” he says.

Currently, child marriage is widespread in Afghanistan. Bans on girls' education by the Taliban government are worsening this situation.

According to UN data, international humanitarian aid to Afghanistan in 2026 has decreased by 70 percent compared to last year. Sharp cuts in aid by the US and other major donors are deepening the humanitarian crisis in the country.