Starving family sells baby girl for $500 in Afghanistan to make ends meet

In order to survive, parents of an Afghan baby girl were forced to sell her for $500 to feed the rest of her starving siblings.   

The daughter was sold to a stranger, 'who wants her to marry his son' as the country is facing a total collapse.  

This is not an isolated incident as several starving Afghan families are selling their children in a desperate bid for money.   

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The Taliban’s takeover has put an end to the foreign funds that propped up the fragile economy. It has been left on the brink of a collapse.  

BBC reporter Yogita Limaye travelled to a village outside Heart and spoke to a mother, who sold her infant daughter for $500 to pay for food for her other children.   

The buyer, who was an unnamed man, claimed he wanted to raise the girl to marry his son, but there is no guarantee of his intentions.   

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The man paid $250 upfront, enough to feed the family for a few months, and will pay the rest, when he returns to collect the baby 'once she can walk'.   

"My other children were dying of hunger so we had to sell my daughter. I am sad. She is my child. I wish I didn't have to sell my daughter," the mother told the BBC.   

(With inputs from agencies)