A devastated father has revealed the agony he feels at being forced to trade his daughter to feed the rest of his family.
A desperate Afghan dad has revealed he is prepared to sell his four-year-old daughter for $800 to feed the rest of his family.
Mir Nazir is one of millions in the country facing a hellish life under the Taliban, who have now begun cementing their harsh rule in Afghanistan.
As their country’s currency – the Afghani – collapses and prices soar, many have resorted to selling everything they own in a bid to stay alive.
But Nazir, a 38-year-old former police officer, is now faced with the heartbreaking decision to sell his daughter to a childless shop keeper in order to feed the rest of his family.
He has been haggling with a shop owner to pawn the child in the Jada-e Maiwan market in Kabul, The Times reports.
“I would prefer to die than be reduced to selling my daughter,” he said.
“But my own death wouldn’t save anyone in my family. Who would feed my other children? This isn’t about choice. It’s about desperation.
“I received an offer from a shop owner, a man I knew who had no children.”
He said a shop owner offered 20,000 afghanis for his daughter Safia to live with him and start working in his shop.
“If I ever get the 20,000 afghanis to buy her back, he said I could,” said Nazir.
“But I can’t sell my daughter for that low a price, so I asked for 50,000. We are still discussing.
“She may have a better future working in a shop than staying with me, and the price may save my family.”
Nazir fled to Kabul with his wife and five children before the Taliban seized the capital and now works as a porter in the market but his wages are not enough to cover his rent.
“We are relieved that the war and fighting have ended but we are all facing a new enemy – poverty,” he said.
Afghanistan’s dire economic state has been made worse by the withdrawal of foreign aid, which accounted for three quarters of public spending.
The former government’s cash reserves have also been frozen after the Taliban seized control.
At the end of August, the United Nations’ World Food Programme warned that food would soon run out of food.
With 18.5 million people in the country relying on aid, the WFP said it was struggling to get supplies into the country.
— The Sun