Taliban allowed men to marry nine-year-old girls
The Taliban movement in Afghanistan abolished the minimum marriage age for girls, reports The Times.
Photo: Elke Scholiers/Getty Images
Before the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the minimum age for marriage was 16, however, this age restriction has been removed. At the same time, according to the interpretation of the largest and oldest Sunni school of Islamic law, the minimum age of sexual maturity is nine years.
“If a girl reaches sexual maturity at the age of nine or ten years, then, according to the new law, she has reached the legal age for marriage,” — Afghan human rights activist Horia Mosadiq told journalists.
The supreme leader of the Taliban movement, Haibatullah Akhundzada, previously stated that the Taliban regime had liberated Afghan women from “traditional oppression” and restored their status as “free people.” It is emphasized, however, that the Taliban had taken “necessary steps to ensure women a comfortable life and well-being in accordance with Islamic Sharia,” and that women’s previous problems were related to the 20-year American occupation.