About 57% of Afghan girls are married before the legal
marriage age of 16; about 60-80% of marriages are forced. Many a time
baby girls are promised in
marriage (when they grow up to older men. Homeyra, an 18-year-old student from Mazar-e Sharif in the north, was promised in marriage to a much older man when she was just a few months old. He's now returned to claim her, now that she has grownup and she's is very sad about the whole thing.
In Afghanistan there is widespread
domestic violence against women.
"My husband beats me whenever he feels like it," a young mother of three from Kabul told the BBC.
"Once he broke my arm, then my legs. Now he's broken my arm again. I try not to make a make a fuss of it because of the children."
A policewoman in Kabul, says women like this turn up at the city's central police station almost every day looking for help. There could be many reasons for domestic violence. One big reason is poverty. Many parents marry off their young daughters-often underage- to wealthy, older men.
A family may try to resolve a dispute with another family by handing over one of their daughters. The girl usually gets treated really badly by the second family.
"I went to the police," One woman said. But they couldn't help her. His family wants her killed by her father if she does not consent for the marriage.
Many women who spoke to the BBC also said that they had tried and failed to get help from the police. There are not enough experienced police personnel to extend help.
And even when the police do intervene, they don't always manage to achieve results.
The police get an undertaking from the husband not to beat her up. But he repeats the whole thing. Many a time the girl asks her family for help, but they are often poor and as they cannot afford to take her back they just keep quiet and she continues to suffer.