Disturbing incidents have emerged from economically impoverished Afghanistan, where families are selling their young daughters to be able to afford food, medical expenses and debt relief.The United Nations says three out of four people in Afghanistan are unable to meet basic needs amid widespread unemployment, a struggling healthcare system and dwindling international aid. It estimates that 4.7 million people, or more than 10% of the population, are one step away from famine.Fathers struggling with extreme poverty and unemployment said they have been forced to make “impossible choices” as hunger deepens across the country, according to a BBC report from Afghanistan’s Ghor province.

‘I am ready to sell my daughter’

Abdul Rashid Azimi, a resident of the province, said he was considering selling one of his seven-year-old twin daughters, Rokia and Rohila, because extreme poverty, debt and unemployment had left him unable to support his family.“I am ready to sell my daughters. I am poor, in debt and helpless,” Abdul Rashid Azimi tearfully told the BBC.“I come home from work with dry lips, hungry, thirsty, upset and confused. My children come to me and say ‘Baba, give us some bread.’ But what can I give? Where is the work?” He added. “I am heartbroken by this decision,” Abdul said while hugging and kissing Rohila while speaking to reporters, but called it the only option for his family’s survival.Another father, Saeed Ahmed, said he was forced to sell his five-year-old daughter Shaika to a relative because his daughter had appendicitis and liver cysts and he could not afford the medical treatment she needed.“I didn’t have the money to pay for the treatment. So I sold my daughter to a relative,” the BBC quoted him as saying.He said, “If I had taken the entire amount at that time, he would have taken her away. So I told him to give me enough money for her treatment now, and in the next five years you can give me the rest after which you can take her away. She will become his daughter-in-law.” Saeed said the money for Shaika’s surgery came from a 200,000 Afghani arrangement under which she would eventually be married into a relative’s family. He initially accepted only enough money to pay for the operation, delaying the rest of the payment so that his daughter could live with him for a few more years.Two years ago, his family, like millions of Afghans, received food aid, including flour, cooking oil, pulses and nutritional supplements for children. But sharp cuts in international aid, especially as the US cut nearly all aid to Afghanistan and other major donors reduced support, left families deprived of basic lifelines.

Why were daughters sold instead of sons?

Families are largely selling daughters instead of sons because boys are traditionally seen as future earners who can support families financially. In Afghanistan, this priority has become even more pronounced under Taliban sanctions that limit education and employment opportunities for women and girls. There is also an age-old practice in which the groom’s family gives money or gifts to the bride’s family during the wedding, making the daughters a source of immediate financial relief for poor families facing hunger, debt and medical crises.The practice of early marriage is widespread in Afghanistan and has reportedly increased since the Taliban prevented girls from getting an education. Experts said girls are often sold because restrictions on women’s education and employment have deepened gender inequality, while the Taliban’s policies towards women have also contributed to international donors withdrawing aid, worsening the humanitarian crisis.