The BBC has reported that the Taliban is invalidating divorces granted by the Afghan court to minors — forcing divorced child brides to return to their previous marital status.
The Taliban is attempting to force divorced child brides to return to their adult former husbands, despite the girls having been granted divorce by the Afghan government, the BBC reported on Sunday, citing the case of Bibi Nazdana.
The BBC says Nazdana’s divorce is one of tens of thousands of court rulings revoked since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan three years ago.
It reportedly took just 10 days from them sweeping into the capital, Kabul, for the man she was promised to at seven to ask the courts to overturn the divorce ruling she had fought so hard for.
Hekmatullah had initially appeared to demand his wife when Nazdana was 15. It was eight years since her father had agreed to what is known as a 'bad marriage', which seeks to turn a family "enemy" into a "friend".
She immediately approached the court – then operating under the US-backed Afghan government – for a separation, repeatedly telling them she could not marry the farmer, now in his 20s, the BBC said. It reportedly took two years, but finally a ruling was made in her favor.
But after Hekmatullah appealed the ruling in 2021, Nazdana was told she would not be allowed to plead her own case in person.
Her former husband, and now a newly signed up member of the Taliban, won the case.
Her brother Shams' attempts to explain to the court in their home province of Uruzgan that her life would be in danger fell on deaf ears.
The siblings decided they had been left with no choice but to flee.
When the Taliban returned to power in the country three years ago, they have reportedly looked at some 355,000 cases. Most were criminal cases – an estimated 40% are disputes over land and a further 30% are family issues including divorce, like Nazdana's.
