The head of the Jowzjan office of Afghanistan's Human Rights Organization, Makhferat Samimi, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that poverty was forcing many parents into selling their small children, including some who were selling their daughters as brides.

"I know a woman who had sold five of her children for some food. It's very painful to see what's happening with our innocent children, they're being sold because of economic problems."

In another case, a local doctor (Mohammad Vali ) told Radio Free Afghanistan that he had met a family who had bought a 2-year-old child for 350 dollars.