Young Girl Sets Herself on Fire in Ghor in Protest Against Forced Marriage to Taliban Member

Local sources from Ghor province told media that a young girl in the Taywara district set herself on fire and died in response to a Taliban member’s attempt to force her into a marriage with his brother.

According to local reports, 20-year-old Abida, a resident of Darzab-e Nili village in Taywara, doused herself in petrol and set herself on fire on Sunday (April 27) after Mohammad Azim, the brother of a Taliban member named Haji Mohammad Rahman, tried to abduct her. Disturbing videos from the scene show villagers trying to extinguish the flames, but Abida succumbed to her burns.

Sources emphasized that Abida’s family was opposed to her marriage to Rahman’s brother. The Taliban member had claimed that Abida was engaged to his brother when she was two years old, but her family denied this allegation.

According to sources, Rahman had previously filed a complaint in a Taliban court in Taywara. Although the court ruled in his favor, the Taliban’s appellate court in Kandahar overturned the decision. However, Rahman ignored the appellate court’s verdict and, on the day of the incident, along with other Taliban members, arrested Abida’s brothers and father and took them to a mosque. In their absence, Mohammad Azim stormed Abida’s father’s house to forcibly abduct her.

A local source stated that during Mohammad Azim’s attempt to kidnap Abida, the girl “set herself on fire to protect her dignity and escape enslavement.”

So far, local Taliban officials in Ghor have not commented on the incident.

This incident comes despite the Taliban leader’s decree on December 3, 2021, which emphasized the necessity of a girl’s consent in marriage and stated that “a woman is not property but a free and noble human being.”

Nevertheless, forced marriages and the polygamous practices of Taliban commanders, often involving massive financial expenditures, have repeatedly made headlines.