A BBC report revealed that Afghan families in desperate need of money are selling their children to make ends meet after the Taliban tookover.
Reporter Yogita Limaye travelled to a village outside of Herat, in the west of the country, and spoke to a mother who sold her infant daughter for $500 to pay for food for her other children.
The buyer is an unnamed male who claimed he wanted to raise his daughter to marry his son. There is no guarantee.
Yogita Limaye, reporter, traveled to a village in the west of Herat to speak to a mother who sold her infant girl, pictured, to pay $500 for food.
The parents stated that they had no food for their other children. Three children were pictured with their father. The man who bought the girl paid $250 of $500 and will return to collect her
He paid $250 down, enough to feed the family for several months, and will return to pick up the baby when she is able to walk.
The World Food Program warned Monday, that more than half of Afghanistan’s population, or 22.8 million people, would face acute food insecurity starting November.
“My other children were dying from massiver so we had no choice but to sell my daughter,” the mother said. “How can you not be sad?” She is my daughter. I wish I didn’t have to sell her.
Her husband, who made a living collecting rubbish, said that he is now starving.
‘Right now, there is no flour or oil in our home. We have nothing. My daughter doesn’t know what her future holds. I don’t know what she will think about it. But I had no choice but to do it.
They are one of many families that feel they cannot choose whether or not to sell their children. The BBC crew was in the village when another family approached them and asked if they would be interested in buying one of their children.
The mother, pictured, felt no other option than to sell her child for the sake her family. Her daughter will be living with them until she is able walk and then she will be taken away.
Although child marriage has been practiced in Afghanistan for centuries, war and climate change-related poverty have forced many families to make deals earlier in the lives of their daughters.
Boys’ parents can be more aggressive and secure younger girls by spreading out the repayments.
This issue has gotten worse since the Taliban tookover three months ago. The international funds that had supported Afghanistan’s fragile economic situation have been halted as the world considers how to deal.
This is also having a negative impact on the healthcare system which was almost entirely funded from foreign money.
Medical staff are not paid and there is no money to buy supplies.
One mother, whose young twins are at the Médecins Sans Frontières hospital in Herat told Limaye: ‘Two of my children are facing death because we don’t have any money.
“I want the world and the Afghan people to be helped. I don’t want any other mother to watch their children suffer as this.
The United Nations has issued a stark warning – that millions will die if urgent aid does not reach the country soon.