Hunger Forces Afghan Parents to Sell Daughters

A severe humanitarian crisis is gripping Afghanistan, pushing impoverished families to sell their own children in exchange for food, medicine, or debt relief. Recent reports from Ghur province highlight cases where parents have parted with their daughters to cover urgent medical costs or simply to buy enough food. One father described how he sold his five-year-old daughter for approximately 200,000 Afghanis to fund her emergency surgery, insisting that the buyer wait until the operation was finished. These stories are becoming increasingly common as three-quarters of the population battles to access basic necessities. With unemployment soaring and international assistance drastically reduced, many households see no alternative but to sell their loved ones to survive.