Heartbreaking moment Afghan father sells off his 9-year-old daughter to 55-year-old man in order to feed his family



An Afghan father claims that the economic conditions are so dire in his country that he was forced to sell his daughter in order to feed the rest of his family.

Abdul Malik allegedly sold off his 9-year-old daughter Parwana Malik to a 55-year-old man named Qorban. The father alleges that Afghanistan's economy has been so atrocious since the Taliban takeover that he was forced to sell his young daughter for $2,200 (200,000 Afghanis) in the form of sheep, land, and cash.

"This is your bride. Please take care of her. You are responsible for her now, please don't beat her," Malik told the buyer, according to CNN.

Qorban told the outlet, "She will be working in my home. I won't beat her. I will treat her like a family member. I will be kind."

The buyer of the small child added, "(Parwana) was cheap, and her father was very poor and he needs money."

CNN had cameras rolling during the heartbreaking transaction of the young girl to the older man. Video shows Parwana dressed in all black except for a colorful floral garland around her neck. After the father and Qorban shake hands on the deal, the 55-year-old grabs the young girl and leads her out of her family's home. Footage shows the small girl digging her feet into the dirt in a last-ditch attempt to prevent her from going home with the stranger. However, she was dragged away as her family watched.

Qorban claims that he wasn't buying Parwana as a child bride, but rather to be taken care of by his own wife as one of their own children.

The family has lived in an Afghan displacement camp in the northwestern Badghis province for the past four years, where they were surviving on humanitarian aid and small jobs. However, the resources have allegedly dried up.

The father claims that he is "broken" with guilt, shame, and worry. He said that he tried to avoid selling off his daughter by looking for a job in the provincial capital city Qala-e-Naw, but was unsuccessful. He also says he borrowed "lost of money" from relatives. His wife began begging for food from other camp residents. However, they were not able to scrounge enough money to feed the entire family.

"We are eight family members," he told CNN. "I have to sell to keep other family members alive."

A few months ago, Malik sold Parwana's 12-year-old sister to a man in order to pay for necessities. Now, the father warns that if conditions don't improve, he may need to sell another daughter to feed the family.

"As I can see, we don't have a future. Our future is destroyed," he said. "I will have to sell another daughter if my financial situation doesn't improve, probably the 2-year-old."

CNN witnesses 9-year-old being sold for marriage to 55-year-old man www.youtube.com

Biden's Afghanistan evacuation debacle may have involved bringing Afghan men with child brides into the U.S.



U.S. officials are probing reports that amid America's chaotic evacuation of Afghans from Afghanistan some older men were admitted along with with girls they claimed as "brides," according to the Associated Press.

U.S. officials in the United Arab Emirates and Wisconsin have noted multiple instances of Afghan girls being presented to authorities as the "wives" of significantly older men, the outlet reported.

An Aug. 27 situation report dispatched to every American embassy and consulate abroad and to military command centers in Florida highlights possible issues pertaining to young girls and older men, some of whom allege to have multiple wives at Wisconsin's Fort McCoy Army base, according to the AP, which obtained relevant sections of the document.

"Intake staff at Fort McCoy reported multiple cases of minor females who presented as 'married' to adult Afghan men, as well as polygamous families," the document notes, according to the outlet. "Department of State has requested urgent guidance."

U.S. officials in the UAE have dispatched a diplomatic cable to Washington alerting that some Afghan girls had been forced into marriages in order to get out of Afghanistan following the Taliban's seizure of control there.

The AP reported that officials familiar with the message say it discusses allegations made by girls in Abu Dhabi that they had suffered sexual assault perpetrated by their "husbands" and that it asks for guidance regarding how to deal with such matters. "The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss internal communications," the outlet noted.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas issued a scathing statement of rebuke regarding the possibility that the Afghanistan evacuation may have been linked with child brides being transported into the U.S.

"These reports are credible and horrifying," Cruz said. "There have been multiple cases of child brides and polygamous families from Afghanistan arriving at military bases here in America as part of their botched evacuation. Reports even suggest that some of the exploitation was a direct result of the Biden administration's chaotic evacuation process, a process that has enabled and incentivized coercion and abuse to the point where Biden Administration officials may well be complicit in child trafficking.

"Every Biden-Harris official linked to this disgrace should and must be held accountable," Cruz declared.

President Biden's administration has been heavily panned for bungling U.S. efforts to pull out of Afghanistan. The Taliban swiftly swept control of the country, leaving the U.S. scrambling to evacuate citizens and others. On Monday the U.S. announced the completion of the withdrawal, but some American citizens and many Afghan allies remain stranded there.

"I have asked the Secretary of State to lead the continued coordination with our international partners to ensure safe passage for any Americans, Afghan partners, and foreign nationals who want to leave Afghanistan," President Biden said in a statement on Monday.