Paktia Province -
Pashtun tribal leaders - the jirga - set up a social initiative, the first of its kind in the southeastern province of Paktia, which deals with a new law and foundations to reduce the costs of marriage and weddings.
Tribal leaders say that the initiative came after complaints from families who could not get their children married because of the high dowries and the high costs of marriage.
The local authorities have blessed the tribal leaders' initiative as an indicator of radical social reform in Afghan traditions, obligating all tribes to implement the local jirga in marriage, and fines who ignore the decisions to pay huge sums.
Exaggeration in dowries
The people of Paktia know that they do not marry their daughters except to those who belong to its tribes and exaggerate the dowries, as many young men and girls have been denied marriage because of customs and traditions that complicate the relationship with the girl of life in the states famous for the high price of dowries compared to other regions in Afghanistan.
This phenomenon has led to the migration of many young Pashtuns to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Iran to earn money to marry a girl from his tribe, as the costs of marriage in the southeastern regions amount to 50-60 thousand dollars, so the tribal leaders decided to intervene with the support of the local authorities to put an end to these practices.
And about that, writer and political researcher Hikmat Jalil says to Al-Jazeera Net, "The girl's father demands huge amounts of money, and spends only 10% on his daughter's wedding, and the rest is kept for himself, and this is what we call selling, and what is worse is that the family that does not demand this amount is viewed with inferiority by others. And I think the latest decision will change people's view of marriage and its costs."
All tribes are obliged to implement the decision of the local jirga in cases of marriage and to fine those who ignore them to pay huge sums (Al-Jazeera)
Reducing spinsterhood phenomenon
Many young people view the decision of tribal leaders to reduce the costs of marriage and dowries as an "important step" and believe that it helps them and society to reduce the phenomenon of spinsterhood.
Abdul Jabbar Ander, who intends to marry, told Al Jazeera Net, "Young people like me should think before marriage because its costs are very high, let alone bear the expenses later, and everyone knows the wave of unemployment across the country. Such decisions to put an end to the costs of marriage are good and are in the interest of young people if It was implemented, as they say, and the truth is that the girl and the boy pay the high price tax alike, and sometimes it even comes to marrying after forty, and this is not seen with approval in our society.”
Document of the Pashtun tribes in Paktia
Al Jazeera.net obtained the document signed by the Pashtun tribal leaders and the local authorities in the state of Paktia, which stipulates the determination of the dowry for each of the virgin girl, the thieb (who was previously married), the widow and the second wife, as follows:
The traditional marriage dowry is $4,588.
The dowry for a widow is $3,488.
The second wife's dowry is $6800.
And whoever announces the engagement of a girl without the consent or approval of her family, her dowry is 11,627 dollars.
The document signed by the Pashtun tribal leaders and local authorities in Paktia state, which stipulates the determination of the dowry for each girl (Al-Jazeera)
Engagement of a girl without the consent or approval of her family!
To clarify this, tribal leader Abdul Karim Tota Khel told Al Jazeera Net, "For centuries there has been a very bad custom in some areas of Afghanistan. When a young man wants to marry a girl without her or her family's consent, and the young man fears that someone else will marry her, the young man shoots in the air in front of a house The family, as a declaration of marriage to the girl.
Khel adds, "From here, the suffering of the girl and the family alike begins. No one dares to ask for her hand, and sometimes she remains a spinster because of the folly committed by those who wanted to marry her." A fine of 11,627 dollars, to be paid to the girl's family, and the girl marries another person from the same tribe as the one who paid the fine, and the former suitor (the shooter) cannot marry her under any pretext.
Supporters of the new resolution believe that it aims to reduce the phenomenon of spinsterhood that is sweeping Afghan society due to the continuation of the war for more than 40 years, and to eliminate tribal customs and traditions that make it difficult for young people to marry due to the high price of dowries.
Khalqiyar Ahmadzai: The initiative came so that the young man does not spend his life outside Afghanistan to save his marriage costs, and the government will monitor the situation in Paktia state (Al-Jazeera)
Reduce the cost of marriage
The head of the Department of Culture and Information in the state of Paktia Khalqiyar Ahmadzai told Al Jazeera Net, "After the announcement of the leaders' decision in the state of Paktia, all tribal traditions and customs that burden families with providing marriage costs were abolished. Only $300, so that the young man does not spend his life outside Afghanistan to provide for and pay the costs of his marriage, but rather stays in his homeland with his wife, and the new government will monitor the situation in Paktia province, with an invitation to monitor this trend for those who are not bound by the new decision.
What is striking about the decision is that whoever violates this consensus, whether it is the family or the groom, will be fined $60,000, and the authorized person will not be able to write his marriage contract.
Young people are calling for the implementation of the new decision in Paktika and Khost, like in Paktia, as all residents of these states belong to the Pashtun tribes that still adhere to tribal customs and traditions. The writer and political analyst Ahmed Karim described to Al Jazeera Net the decision as “great” and said, “The decision must be approved throughout the country to limit One of the high expenses of marriage, because of its positive effects on the family and local economy.
Feasibility of tribal decisions about marriage
While a number of civil law experts in Afghanistan see the decision as a step backwards and neglect of civil law and marriage law passed by previous governments, it does not know the usefulness of tribal decisions about marriage arrangements in a country that has lived with traditional customs and customs for centuries and has not been officially published by the government and judiciary.
The tribal leader, Muqbil Khan Fadli, told Al Jazeera Net, "The determination of the costs of marriage and the amount of dowries is done mostly by the two families, and the process is flexible for the mediator's intervention between the two families," describing the last step taken by the tribal councils as good, but the families do not implement it strictly, and the penalties that Its status is difficult to implement, due to its informal nature, according to his opinion.