The Child Brides of Afghanistan

The N.Y. Times presents a photo essay on girls as young as 11 being married off to men three or four times their age, sometimes to settle gambling debts. The last line of the accompanying textual essay is as heartbreaking as anything you’ll ever read.

N.Y. Times:

... On the day she witnessed the engagement party of 11-year-old Ghulam Haider to 40-year-old Faiz Mohammed, [N.Y. Times photographer] Stephanie Sinclair discreetly took the girl aside. “What are you feeling today?” the photographer asked. “Nothing,” the bewildered girl answered. “I do not know this man. What am I supposed to feel?”

Link

From Stephanie Sinclair / The New York Times

Ghulam Haider, 11, is to be married to Faiz Mohammed, 40. She had hoped to be a teacher but was forced to quit her classes when she became engaged.