Thread: Meet the 11 year old bride of your dreams...in Afghanistan!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=5541006

Photo Op: An Occasional Series
Photo Op: Child Brides in Afghanistan

Roshan Qasem, 11, will joing the household of Said Mohammed, 55
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Stephanie Sinclair

Roshan Qasem, 11, will joing the household of Said Mohammed, 55; his first wife; their three sons; and their daughter, who is the same age as Roshan. New York Times Magazine © 2006

Ghulan Haider, 11, is to be married to Faiz Mohammed, 40.
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Stephanie Sinclair

Ghulan Haider, 11, is to be married to Faiz Mohammed, 40. She had hoped to become a teacher but was forced to quit her classes when she became engaged. New York Times Magazine © 2006

Majabin Mohammed, 13, at left, sits with her husband of six months, Mohammed Fazal, 45.
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Stephanie Sinclair

Majabin Mohammed, 13, at left, sits with her husband of six months, Mohammed Fazal, 45. Village elders advised him to accept Majabin as payment for a gambling debt. New York Times Magazine © 2006

Day to Day, July 7, 2006 · A photo essay featuring Afghan men and their young brides will appear in this Sunday's New York Times Magazine. Photographer Stephanie Sinclair, who captured the stunning images of the men with brides as young as 11 years old, talks with Alex Chadwick talks about the global issue of child brides.

Numbers are hard to verify, but one estimate by the Population Council, an international research group, is that about 1 in every 7 girls in the developing world (excluding China) gets married before her 15th birthday.

In Afghanistan, it is not uncommon for parents to give their daughters over to marriage to settle debts or resolve family or clan disputes. In hard times, it can save the girl from a life of poverty and hunger. But as Sinclair found in her travels through the countryside, the practice is also deeply entrenched in Afghan culture.

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Who cares if your bride is only 1/4 your age! After all, it's not like the bride has a choice in the matter.

Criminal Pedophiles and the world looks the other way.............

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I can't even fathom that......those poor girls.

I looked at the photos and nearly cried. How could anyone allow these gross men to force themselves on little girls?

I am especially saddened by the 11 year old who had to give up her educational goal of becoming a teacher, to marry that 40 year pedophile.

It's a sick, backward culture. But I think the U.S. should stay out of it. We can't rescue those poor girls. We have enough to worry about right her on our own soil.

Those girls need to rescue themselves. I don't know how...but they do.

and we are giving these people millions and billions of dollars in aid???

Who is sick?