Taliban Claim to Have Prevented a Forced Marriage of a Girl in Kunar

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The Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Kunar province has claimed that, with the cooperation of religious scholars and tribal elders, it prevented a forced marriage and rescued a woman from domestic violence.

According to the department, in the Nari district of Kunar, members of a family attempted to marry off a young girl to a middle-aged man without her consent, but the “intervention of the Taliban” and efforts by local elders allegedly stopped the forced marriage.

In another case, a woman who had suffered domestic violence for years was reportedly freed from her difficult situation with the support and follow-up of the Taliban’s virtue and vice office.

However, this claim comes as forced and underage marriages have dramatically increased in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Reports by international organisations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and UNICEF, indicate that Taliban-imposed restrictions on women’s education, employment, and social participation have contributed to the rise in forced marriages.

According to these reports, more than one-third of Afghan girls are now trapped in forced marriages, many of which involve Taliban members or take place under pressure from the group’s policies.

This year, several cases of forced marriage to Taliban members were reported. In April, a girl in Ghor province set herself on fire and died to escape being forced into marriage with a Taliban member. Similar incidents have been documented in Herat, Sar-e Pul, and Baghlan provinces, including cases of threats and violence against families who refused to marry off their daughters to Taliban fighters.