Officials in Herat said that the Washington Post’s report on the selling of small girls in this province is baseless.

Before this, the Washington Post reported that almost 120 Afghan girls aged 6 to 10 had been sold into marriage and 116 families had girls waiting for buyers due to the bad economic situation in Shahrak-e-Sabz in the east of Herat.

“We deny this report, all the children including girls have an elder here. Afghanistan now has found its leader,” said Ahmadullah Muttaqi, the head of Information of Herat. 

Several residents said that no girl has been sold but some families engage their daughters for money and they do their marriage as she reaches the legal marriage age. The selling of girls is "shameful" in Afghan culture and no one has sold his daughter, they added.

"We live in this town but we do not sell our daughters, even if we have no food we don't do such activity and the report is not true," said Noor Ali, a resident of Shahrak-e-Sabz in Herat.
 
"Nothing like this has happened, that one will sell his/her daughter for 10,000 or 20,000 here or in another province," said Noor Ahmad, another resident of this town.

The residents of Shahrak-e-Sabz in Herat also expressed that the marrying of small girls is from a former culture. Some families engage their daughters for money but they complete their marriage as they reach the legal marriage age.

"Maybe some fathers engage their 2 or 3-year-old daughters for 10,000 or 20,000 per year until the girl becomes an adult," said Nabi Gul a resident of Shahrak-e-Sabz in Herat.

According to the numbers, over 5,000 displaced families live in Shahrak-e-Sabz in the east of Herat. During the past decade, these displaced people have moved to Herat from Badghis, Ghor, and Faryab provinces due to war and drought.