Poverty shuts down weddings in Taliban Afghanistan

Without resources to meet the costs of traditional dowries to get a wife, Afghan youth lengthen the wait to get married marriage, a burden that, according to Afghan society, falls on men.

“The poverty and the unemployment “They are the main problems that cause young people to remain single for a long time and not be able to get married,” The cultural director of the Shuhada charity foundation and organizer of mass weddings, Mohammad Kazim Urfani, told EFE.

Mass weddings are an option in this country, which sees excessive spending on marriages and dowries as inappropriate.

“Less than a month ago we announced collective wedding sessions, and so far we have received 80 requests,” said Wasl-eKawsar Foundation director and wedding planner Idris Rasuli.

Mustafa and his girlfriend waited for more than three years to celebrate their wedding, something that did not happen, since they could not cover the expenses of the ceremony or the dowry.

The story is similar for Murtaza Admadi, 25, who got married in 2020, but with the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, he lost his job and was unable to assume the debt for the ceremony.

“It is very hard to wait so long and not be able to start our own family life due to the high cost of the wedding and dowry,” he told EFE.

The costs of a traditional wedding range between 200,000 and 300,000 Afghanis (between US$2,800 and US$4,000), but with a collective wedding ceremony it reduces the expense to US$150 and US$200, he added.

The dowry that a man must pay to the woman’s family represents an additional expense of between US$3,000 and US$15,000, forcing many to look for work abroad to cover the costs.

“Many of our young people have been migrating to bear the high cost of traditional wedding and dowry, but collective weddings help them reduce dowry and pay for wedding expenses, including some items necessary for the newlyweds”Rasuli told EFE.

Mohammad Ayube, 25, got engaged in 2020 and was forced to migrate to the United Kingdom in 2021 to raise the money needed to get married.

“There was no way to stay in the country, without work, without another income opportunity, despite being engaged… here I have a limited work permit and I hope to be able to earn enough money to send for my wedding and my family,” Ayube told EFE.

Others, like Shukrullah Rohani, started campaigns to borrow money from family and friends to cover wedding expenses.

“So far I have borrowed 90,000 afghanis (US$1,200) to pay the dowry, but I still need 40,000 afghanis (US$570),” he told EFE.

Although in some cases women contributed to the payment of weddings, the rise to power of the fundamentalists led to a plethora of restrictions that deprived them of rights such as free movement, studying or working.

“Although the number of women who had jobs was limited, it was a great boost for society, especially for couples who had to pay the expenses of the wedding and the new married life,” declared the social activist, Nahid Noori.

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