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An unprecedented drought in Afghanistan has led families to sell their children just to feed their families.
CNN has spoken to many families in the city of Herat, in the west of the country, who have been forced to leave their homes following a record drought period that, according to the United Nations, has forced more people to leave their homes in 2018 than the record violence in the country.
The UN estimates that more than 275,000 people are displaced by the drought, including 84,000 in the city itself and 182,000 in the Badghis region.
The region's agriculture was ravaged by four years of insufficient rainfall, which even resulted in a one-third drop in the opium harvest this year, despite record output in 2017. The conditions Extreme weather worries global climate change The world's most fragile country, where decades of war have crushed the economy and society.
Outside of Herat, in a refugee camp, a CNN cameraman met Mamareen, who lost her husband to war, her house to climate and now her daughter in urgent need of feeding her other children. Akila, 6, is now, under the distorted economy of this tent city, owning another family. Mamareen sold Akila $ 3,000 to Najmuddin, who promised her 10-year-old son, Sher Agha.
"I fled my village with my three children because of a severe drought," she said. "I came here thinking that I would get help, but I did not get anything. To avoid famine among my children, I gave my daughter to a man for about $ 3,000, but I only received $ 70 so far. I did not have money, no food and no breadwinner – my husband was also killed. "
When asked if Akila knew her fate, she replied, "She does not know that I sold her." How could she know? It's a child But I did not have any other choice. Whether in tears or laughter, she will have to leave. Who would sell a piece of his heart unless it is really necessary?
An act of charity?
His fate was meters away, in another richer tent of the camp, with Najmuddin, his buyer. Part of this transaction is cultural – part of the mores of a society in which girls have long been traded for dowries rather than seeking their consent. But for Najmuddin, it was an act of charity.
"His family had nothing to eat. They were hungry, "he said. "I know I'm so poor, but I'm sure I can pay slowly … in two or three years."
The Afghan cameraman asked, are not they children? "It does not matter. These things are happening here. Even an old man marries a girl. It happens."
Najmuddin is suffering from the same drought that has destroyed the worlds of western Afghanistan, which was once the breadbasket of this war-torn and landlocked country. He said: "The wheat harvest failed, we could not grow melons. All other crops failed because of the drought. We lost our livestock. The sheep, cows and goats all died of hunger because there was no fodder for them. "
This was not an isolated case. A man who refused to give his name when discussing the sale of his 4-year-old daughter said, "I did not have any other choice, I had no money or source of income . The man came here and offered me two options: either pay off his money or give him my daughter. I went with him. "
These devastating decisions come at a time when Afghanistan is in shock from a series of superlatives. Record the control or influence of the territory by the Taliban – 45% according to the US inspector in the war – and record the number of civilian casualties. And a very high, but undisclosed, number of deaths in Afghan security forces, the actual figure being ranked by the US and Afghan governments.
