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Footage Shows 9-Year-Old Being Sold To 55-Year-Old Man In Afghanistan

CNN/ screenshot

John Fleming Contributor
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A father in Afghanistan has been forced to sell his 9-year-old daughter to buy food and other necessities, CNN footage showed Monday.

The CNN report showed Parwana Malik being sold to a 55-year old man. Her distraught father Abdul Malik begged that the man treat his daughter well, and pleaded that he would not beat her, CNN reported.

“I have no work, no money, no food. I have to sell my daughter. I have no other choice,” Abdul Malik said in the CNN report. 

“My father has sold me because we have no bread, rice, or flour. My father has sold me to an old man,” Parwana Malik said in the CNN report.

The man presented Abdul with 200,000 Afghanis, the equivalent of $2,000, CNN reported.

Parwana was then presented to the 55-year-old man, covered up and weeping. Parwana was taken away by him, being pulled by the man as she tried to stay with her family, the outlet showed.

Human rights activists are claiming that there has been an increase in child marriage since the Taliban took over Afghanistan, CNN reported. (RELATED: US Announces $144 Million In Aid Money Will Go To Afghanistan)

Another family in Afghanistan is selling their 9 and 4-year-old daughters for $1,000 each. When asked if they are scared, they replied, “Yes I am,” CNN reported.

The humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan has worsened since the Taliban takeover. Over 20 million people face food insecurity, and 3.2 million children face acute malnutrition, according to the outlet.