Afghan ‘opium brides’ bear the burden for poppy eradication

As Afghanistan’s government expands its poppy eradication efforts, the daughters of ruined poppy farmers are increasingly sold to pay off debts to drug traffickers, Yahoo News reported Monday, citing an article in Newsweek’s upcoming issue.

Termed as “opium brides,” or “loan brides,” the daughters of poppy farmers are often given to drug traffickers if their fathers are unable to pay loans taken for growing their crops. With Kabul stepping up its eradication efforts, more and more farmers are defaulting on their loans, and thus more farmers are being forced to give their daughters, some as young as ten, to the drug traffickers.

While law enforcers predict another record opium harvest worth billions of dollars, most of the 500,000 Afghan poppy farmers are struggling to survive.

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