A homeless Afghan mom has reportedly sold her daughter in desperation so she can feed the rest of her family as the Taliban cement their brutal regime.
Millions of poverty-stricken families in Afghanistan are struggling to cope and are suffering a hellish life after the militant group seized control of the country during the withdrawal of Western Forces.
With the country’s currency collapsing and prices soaring, many have turned to unthinkable measures to get their hands on the cash they need to stay alive.
One homeless mom in Ghazni city was reportedly forced to sell her 13-year-old daughter for £1,200 ($1,609) so she has enough money to feed her other three kids, according to a respected Afghan newspaper.
Mohammad Zaman Zaki, described as a local influencer, told Ettela’at-e-Rooz the woman made the heartbreaking decision to exchange her eldest child for cash due to “poverty” and “hunger”.
“She sold her 13-year-old eldest daughter for 100,000 to 150,000 afghanis ($1,609) so she could find bread for her other three daughters,” he said.
The woman, named only as Marzieh, apparently moved to the Qala-e-Qadam of the city with her four daughters after she divorced her “addicted” husband, the paper reports – but it’s not possible to independently verify claims.
Afghanistan’s dire economic state has been made worse by the withdrawal of foreign aid, which accounted for three-quarters of public spending.
The former government’s cash reserves have also been frozen after the Taliban seized control.
At the end of August, the United Nations’ World Food Programme warned that food would soon run out.
With 18.5 million people in the country relying on aid, the WFP said it was struggling to get supplies into the country.
Added to the hardship faced by an already impoverished country, is the harsh rule of the Taliban, who unveiled an all-male cabinet of hardliners.
Another parent, dad Mir Nazir, revealed he is prepared to sell his four-year-old daughter to a childless shopkeeper for £420 ($563) to feed the rest of his family.
The 38-year-old former police officer said he had been haggling with a shop owner to pawn the child at the Jada-e Maiwan market in Kabul.
“I would prefer to die than be reduced to selling my daughter,” he said.
“But my own death wouldn’t save anyone in my family. Who would feed my other children? This isn’t about choice. It’s about desperation.”
It comes as Taliban fighters are allegedly buying child brides and even babies to be raised and turned into sex slaves for as little as £800 ($1,073).
Sources have said children as young as one are reportedly being sold to the vile extremists in exchange for cash, livestock and weapons.
The twisted jihadis are exploiting the desperate and poverty-stricken people of Afghanistan – often targeting rural communities – with children set to be raised to become “brides” for the fighters – who are often nothing more than sex slaves.
Sources have said that the Taliban have been preying on villages in Ghur province close to the Afghan capital Kabul.
Underaged children are being sold for between £811 and £2,027 ($1,087 to $2,718), or exchanged for guns or farm animals.
The practice is said to be rife in rural districts close to Kabul and has reached epidemic proportions since the fall of the government and financial collapse.
This story originally appeared on The Sun and was reproduced here with permission.