Reviewed 8 October 2026 against current UNAMA reporting and the UK Government’s May 2026 country evidence on children in Afghanistan.
By Aneeta Prem MBE
Child marriage in Afghanistan cannot be understood through one explanation.
Economic hardship matters. So does the exclusion of girls from secondary education. So do family power, weak protection and a legal framework imposed by the de facto authorities that now raises direct concerns about consent.
Those pressures overlap. They should not be collapsed into a simple claim that every family acts for the same reason or that poverty automatically produces forced marriage.
What the current evidence shows
A UK Government country-policy note published in May 2026 says child marriage continues despite a December 2021 Taliban decree that purported to prevent forced marriage.
Drawing on humanitarian and rights evidence, the note records an increase in reported child-marriage cases from 323 in 2024 to 746 in 2025 in comparative Whole of Afghanistan Assessment data.
It also links increased vulnerability to economic pressure, loss of income and restrictions on girls’ education beyond grade 6.
Those figures are not a national prevalence estimate. They show that reported cases increased in the data reviewed and that child marriage remains a live protection concern.
Decree No. 18 changes the consent question
On 21 May 2026, UNAMA issued a formal statement about Decree No. 18, the de facto authorities’ Code on Judicial Separation of Spouses.
UNAMA said the decree further entrenches discrimination against women and girls. Of particular concern, it devotes a chapter to girls who reach puberty and are married, which UNAMA says implies that child marriage is permitted.
The most troubling provision concerns silence. UNAMA states that the decree allows a girl’s silence, when she reaches puberty, to be interpreted as consent to a marriage.
Silence is not a reliable test of free consent.
A girl may be silent because she is frightened, dependent, under pressure or aware that refusal carries consequences. Consent requires a real ability to choose, not an absence of protest.
Education is part of the safeguarding picture
Afghanistan remains the only country where girls are barred from secondary education nationwide and women are excluded from university education.
In June 2026, UNAMA told the UN Security Council that an estimated 3.8 million girls aged 7 to 18 were out of school, including more than 2.6 million adolescent girls. It estimated that around 250,000 more girls each year were being permanently excluded from secondary-education pathways.
Education does not guarantee protection from forced or child marriage. But school can widen choices, delay marriage, create routes to future income and keep a girl in regular contact with adults and institutions outside the family.
Removing education narrows those options. It is therefore reasonable to treat the education ban as one factor increasing vulnerability, not as proof of why any particular marriage occurs.
Economic pressure matters without excusing exploitation
Afghanistan’s humanitarian crisis has placed severe pressure on households. Reporting reviewed by the UK Government describes families using harmful coping strategies, including child labour and marriages linked to debt or loss of income.
Understanding that desperation matters. It helps explain how families can arrive at decisions they may not have contemplated under different circumstances.
It does not remove the child’s rights.
A girl should not become the means by which a household settles debt, secures income or reduces the number of people it must feed. Poverty can explain pressure. It cannot turn coercion into consent.
Child marriage and forced marriage are related, but not identical
Child marriage concerns age. Forced marriage concerns the absence of free and full consent.
The two frequently overlap, but the distinction matters. A child marriage can involve family pressure, economic exchange or coercion. An adult can also be forced into marriage.
Clear language prevents the debate becoming trapped in whether a girl visibly resisted. A child’s protection should not depend on her ability to confront the adults controlling her circumstances.
Why I keep returning to consent
My work on forced marriage in the UK has shown me how easily pressure can be described as duty, obedience or protection.
The question I would ask in any country is the same: could the person safely say no?
If refusal risks violence, abandonment, homelessness, punishment or the loss of family support, apparent agreement has to be understood in that context.
Decree No. 18 is therefore especially troubling because it moves in the opposite direction. Instead of requiring clear evidence of free choice, the rule described by UNAMA permits silence to carry legal meaning against the girl.
What international action should focus on
The response needs to be practical rather than rhetorical.
Humanitarian assistance should reduce the economic pressures that push families towards harmful coping strategies. Education for girls should remain a central diplomatic and human-rights demand. Child-protection monitoring needs reliable data, and Afghan women-led organisations need space and support to document abuse and help people at risk.
None of those measures will solve child marriage alone. Together, they address some of the conditions that make girls more dependent and less able to exercise choice.
Final word
The strongest evidence is already serious enough.
Reported child-marriage cases increased in the data reviewed for 2024 and 2025. More than 2.6 million adolescent girls are excluded from secondary education. UNAMA says Decree No. 18 allows a girl’s silence at puberty to be treated as consent to marriage.
A legal system should protect a child’s ability to refuse. It should never make her silence do the work of consent.
Sources and further reading
- UNAMA: Statement on Decree No. 18, 21 May 2026
- GOV.UK: Afghanistan country policy note, May 2026
- UNAMA: Security Council briefing, 8 June 2026