(HorizonPost.com) – When President Joe Biden pulled the last US troops out of Afghanistan, the Taliban took over the country, immediately changing the lives of the citizens who remained. Although the obvious change was nearly immediate, the long-term consequences of the move are now starting to show. On November 1, footage showed a father, Abdul Malik, selling his 9-year-old daughter, Parwana, to a 55-year-old man for about $2,200 in cash and assets. The pay will only feed his family for a few months.
Parents of a 9-year-old #Afghan girl sold her to a man in his 50s, after selling her 12-year-old sister. As life under #Taliban rule worsens, growing numbers of families “feel they have to do this." https://t.co/EanWEsMNZr
— Alliance In Support Of The Afghan People (@AllianceForAfg) November 2, 2021
Since the extremist group seized power, the Afghan people are finding it difficult to find work or buy food, leading them to unconscionable acts to feed their families. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time Malik received income for a daughter. Just a few months prior, he sold his 12-year-old so he could buy necessities. The father said he had no choice if he wanted to “keep other family members alive.”
According to the United Nations, over three million children in the Middle Eastern country will face hunger in the next few months. Nearly 700,000 people in Afghanistan lost their homes in 2021 due to fighting, and the food crisis is only making the problem worse.
Now, families like Malik’s are resorting to sacrificing some of their children to save the ones they can afford to keep. If they don’t sell, interested buyers “will take them” anyway. When they run out of people to sell, what’s next under Taliban rule?
Copyright 2021, HorizonPost.com
