Health officials in the western province of Herat said on Thursday that 800 suicide attempts have been recorded in the province over the past six months--170 males and 630 females--and from that number 12 people died. Over 75% of the reported attempted suicides were women.

In this report, TOLOnews reporter Naseer Ahmad Salehi talked with an Afghan girl named Dunya who tried to commit suicide after her family forced her to marry an elderly man.

Dunya, 20, said she had no other option except to commit suicide after she considered that marrying the elderly man would "end her dreams."

“My family forced me to marry another man, an old man. I thought that if I marry that man, then all my dreams and desires will vanish, so I had no other option except to commit suicide,” said Dunya.

Psychologists have said that family pressure and child marriages are two key factors compelling youth to attempt suicide.

“170 cases were men, the rest were women. Six self-immolations were recorded and all six died, unfortunately. Two men and four women also died from acts of suicide,” said Mohammad Arif Jalali, the head of Herat's provincial hospital.

“Restrictions on their personal relations and the selection of a life partner were causes, as was education or work outside the home. Also, poverty, family issues and insecurity stress women,” said Dr. Wahid Noorzad, a psychologist in Herat.