'Idle' Afghan girls married off with no prospect of schools reopening

Zainab, a thirteen-year-old, was compelled to choose a wedding dress instead ofa new school uniform as there isno chance of girls' schools reopening in Afghanistan.Many young girls have been married off since the Taliban took over Kabul and forbade them from attending school, many of them to considerably older men of their father's choosing.

"I cried a lot and kept telling my father that the Taliban would reopen girls' schools," Zainab said, as reported by AFP.

"But he said that's not going to happen, and it's better that I get married rather than sit idle at home."

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Within hours of the prospective husband's arrival, Zainab'swedding date was set, along with his offer of a few sheep, goats, and four sacks of rice as bride price, which is a long-standing tradition in rural Afghanistan.

Zainab moved in with her new in-laws and her husband, who is 17 years older than her, as is customary.

The only place in the world where girls cannot attend secondary education isAfghanistan.

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Many parents have accelerated the marriage of teenage daughters who have been largely sequestered in their homes since the Taliban stopped their schooling.

There was a fleeting optimism that, in contrast to their cruel, austere reign in the 1990s, the Taliban might grant more freedoms to women when they retook power in the nation in August of last year.

But the covert supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada cancelled the education ministry's plans to reopen girls' schools in March.

(with inputs from agencies)