70 Afghan couples marry in Kabul's mass wedding

Seventy Afghan couples tied nuptial knots in Kabul during a mass wedding ceremony, as the country is dealing with a financial crisis after being taken by the Taliban in August 2021.

Marriages in Afghanistan are a costly affair in the country. Couples from families unable to bear the expenses have sometimes opted to pool their resources in low-cost large-scale marriages.

A local charity organization has arranged a mass wedding party for 70 couples in Afghanistan's capital city Kabul, Xinhua News Agency reported citing local media on Tuesday.

"The Silab Foundation held a mass wedding for 70 couples in Kabul yesterday. The couples were unable to arrange wedding parties individually due to economic problems," the agency said citing Bakhtar.

Afghanistan is grappling with a serious humanitarian crisis as according to international assessments, Afghanistan has now the highest number of people in emergency food insecurity in the world, with more than 23 million in need of assistance, and approximately 95 per cent of the population having insufficient food consumption.

Earlier, a report by US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) stated that more than 24.4 million people are in need of humanitarian aid in Afghanistan, an increase from 18.4 million in 2021, Khama Press reported.

It further said that according to a report by World Food Program (WFP), 97 per cent of the population consumed insufficient food in December, and they were resorting to dealing with a situation such as skipping meals.

Earlier, WFP said in its report that since the fall of the former government to the Taliban, over 22 million people face severe hunger. Absolute poverty, food crisis, and unemployment are being witnessed at an all-time high as families in Kabul are forced to move to the streets.

Drought, conflict, the outbreak of COVID-19 and the economic crisis have added to their woes.

Besides this, the continuously soaring prices of food products in the country have emerged as a new challenge for Afghanis. In a short span of fewer than three months, food prices have almost doubled, reported The Khaama Press. The price of a sack of flour ranges between 2,800 to 3,000 Afghanis as compared previously when it was sold at 1,400 Afghanis.

The price of fuel, and also the price of taxi fares, have also surged due to the economic crisis.