Reports Show Girls as Young as 13 Are Forced Into Marriage Under Taliban Rule

While child marriage is an issue in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, we could find no evidence that the Taliban forces girls as young as nine to be married. 

According to the Wall Street Journal, Afghan girls and women between 15 and 40 are being forced to marry Taliban fighters. While Afghan government law says that girls under 16 cannot get married, Sharia law says that for marriage there “should be adulthood,” but that “in case of non-adulthood, guardianship of father or grandfather is required for marriage.”

Members of the Taliban deny accusations of forced marriage, but evacuees and activists report that many girls are being forced into marriage. The youngest girl allegedly forced into marriage that we could find was 13.

In 2018, several years before the Taliban takeover, an Afghan man killed his nine-year-old child bride, which is possibly where the claim has its roots.