Turan Research Center

Research Fellow Hussain Ehsani spoke to Sky News Arabia for a feature on the spread of child-selling among Afghan families, a practice that has accelerated sharply since the Taliban's return to power in 2021. The report cites estimates that as many as 121,000 children have been traded or sold since August 2021, with open sales now documented in markets in northern provinces such as Jowzjan, where children are reportedly priced between $1,000 and $2,000 depending on age.

Ehsani told Sky News Arabia that the practice is not new — it existed even under the previous republican government — but emphasized that it has expanded sharply under the current crisis. He attributed part of the surge to Afghanistan's economic collapse: the absence of job opportunities, a broken economic system, and the lack of any state plan to develop rural areas have pushed families in the countryside to seek alternative means of survival, including selling their children.

But Ehsani argued that the phenomenon cannot be explained by economics alone. It is also rooted in tribal culture and social structures, he said, where village elders and tribal sheikhs continue to issue customary rulings to resolve legal and financial disputes between individuals. Among the remedies these notables sometimes propose is the sale of a young child to settle outstanding debts or end a dispute. The practice, Ehsani concluded, is the product of interrelated economic, cultural, and social factors.

Read the full article on Sky News Arabic.

Hussain Ehsani is a Research Fellow at the Turan Research Center.