Banned from education, 'idle' Afghan girls are married off

Maryam says not once did she think she would have to stop studying and become a housewife. Photos: Wakil Kohsar/AFP

Thirteen-year-old Zainab should have been shopping for a new school uniform this autumn but, with no prospect of girls' schools reopening in Afghanistan, she was instead forced to pick out a wedding dress.

Since the Taliban seized power in Kabul and banned teenage girls from education, many have been married off – often to much older men of their father's choice.