Marrying Six Year Olds in Afghanistan

Nearly half of all marriages in Afghanistan are thought to involve girls under the age of 16, according to the UN. Girls can be traded to solve conflicts between tribal families. In some rural areas, girls as young as six years old are married off by their families.

This tribal tradition is not exclusive to Afghanistan. In Bedouin societies in Arabia for example, guaranteeing the family line was a necessity. The prophet Mohamed’s youngest wife was not older than nine (or six according to some) when she was taken to his house. Although we know from recent reports from Pakistan that sex with underage wives do happen, it is a violation of norms and codes of justice. Undesirable as underage marriages are, we shouldn’t assume they equal underage sex in these societies that are guided by religious and traditional codes more than anything else.

Women in Afghanistan are still widely abused, as this report makes clear. Although the Taleban are gone (or are they returning?), girls are back in school and women stand for elections to the parliament, abduction, rape and forced marriages are faced by women on a daily basis.

This Huffington Post blogger (who provided the links above) says we have forgotten about Afghanistan’s women, although liberating them was a reason for the war.