But Parwana's laughter disappears as she returns home, a small hut with dirt walls, where she's reminded of her fate: she's being sold to a stranger as a child bride.

The man who wants to buy Parwana says he's 55, but to her, he's "an old man" with white eyebrows and a thick white beard, she told CNN on October 22. She worries he will beat her and force her to work in his house.

But her parents say they have no choice.

For four years, her family have lived in an Afghan displacement camp in northwestern Badghis province, surviving on humanitarian aid and menial work earning a few dollars a day. But life has only gotten harder since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan on August 15.

As international aid dries up and the country's economy collapses, they're unable to afford basic necessities like food. Her father already sold her 12-year-old sister several months ago.

Parwana is one of many young Afghan girls sold into marriage as the country's humanitarian crisis deepens. Hunger has pushed some families to make heartbreaking decisions, especially as the brutal winter approaches.

The parents gave CNN full access and permission to speak to the children and show their faces because they say they cannot change the practice themselves.

"Day by day, the numbers are increasing of families selling their children," said Mohammad Naiem Nazem, a human rights activist in Badghis. "Lack of food, lack of work, the families feel they have to do this."

Abdul Malik, Parwana's father, can't sleep at night. Ahead of the sale, he told CNN he's "broken" with guilt, shame and worry.

He had tried to avoid selling her — he travelled to the provincial capital city Qala-e-Naw to search unsuccessfully for work, even borrowing "lots of money" from relatives, and his wife resorted to begging other camp residents for food.
But he felt he had no choice if he wants to feed his family.

"We are eight family members," he told CNN. "I have to sell to keep other family members alive."

The money from Parwana's sale will only sustain the family for a few months before Malik has to find another solution, he said.

Parwana said she hoped to change her parents' minds — she had dreams of becoming a teacher and didn't want to give up her education. But her pleas were futile.

On October 24, Qorban, the buyer, who only has one name, arrived at her home and handed 200,000 Afghanis (about $2,200) in the form of sheep, land and cash to Parwana's father.

Qorban didn't describe the sale as a marriage, saying he already had a wife who would look after Parwana as if she were one of their own children.

"(Parwana) was cheap, and her father was very poor and he needs money," Qorban said.

"She will be working in my home. I won't beat her. I will treat her like a family member. I will be kind."

Parwana, dressed in a black head covering with a colourful floral garland around her neck, hid her face and whimpered as her weeping father told Qorban: "This is your bride. Please take care of her — you are responsible for her now, please don't beat her."

Qorban agreed, then gripped Parwana's arm and led her out the door. As they left, her father watching by the doorway, Parwana dug her feet into the dirt and tried to pull away — but it was no use. She was dragged to the waiting car, which slowly pulled away.

Since the Taliban's takeover, stories like Parwana's have been on the rise.

Though marrying off children under 15 is illegal nationwide, it has been commonly practised for years, especially in more rural parts of Afghanistan. And it has only spread since August, driven by widespread hunger and desperation.

More than half the population is facing acute food insecurity, according to a United Nations report released this week. And more than 3 million children under age 5 face acute malnutrition in the coming months. All the while, food prices are soaring, banks are running out of money and workers are going unpaid. Continue reading

Barnabite Father Giovanni Scalese, head of the Catholic mission in Afghanistan, along with five Missionaries of Charity nuns and 14 orphans in their care, landed in Rome on Aug 25.

The orphans are between the ages of 6 and 20, and some of them are in wheelchairs, which created a challenge for Scalese and the sisters in transporting them safely to the airport.

"We thank the Lord for the success of the operation," Father Giovanni Scalese, 66, said in a Facebook post soon after his arrival in Rome .

"I said it and I have done it," Scalese told Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "I would have never returned to Italy without these children. We couldn't leave them there."

"I thank all of you who in these days have raised incessant prayers to Him on our behalf. Those prayers were obviously fulfilled," Scalese wrote in the post. "Continue to pray for Afghanistan and for its people."

Scalese told SIR, the news agency of the Italian bishops' conference, that although he "felt concerned" after the Taliban took over the capital, he felt safe being inside the embassy.

"Outside the gates of our embassy were Taliban who, if they had wanted to harm us, could have done so. But absolutely nothing happened," he recalled. "I was more worried about the (Missionaries) of Charity. They had remained in their homes and were, therefore, more exposed and afraid."

Nevertheless, Scalese said that while waiting to board the next available flight, "we never felt alone," and both church and state authorities were in constant contact with them.

Pope Francis "was interested in the matter and followed it," he said.

The Italian priest was appointed by Pope Francis in 2014 as the superior of the Catholic Church's mission in Afghanistan. St. John Paul II established the mission in Afghanistan in 2002, led by the Clerics Regular of St Paul, known as the Barnabites.

"Our center is no longer open. It is closed and we are destroyed," a Missionary of Charity nun from Madagascar told La Repubblica. "It is done, there is no hope in Kabul."

"We continue to pray for Afghanistan. But, we cannot abandon this country and its suffering people," Scalese told SIR.

Sources

Crux

Washington Post

Thousands of Afghans have entered Pakistan via the Chaman border crossing, one of the most active trade and travel routes between the countries, according to media reports.

However, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad claimed Aug 18 there were no refugees entering the country, nor has Pakistan made preparation for Afghans seeking refuge.

Amjad Gulzar, executive director of Caritas Pakistan, told ucanews.com more than 200 families have already arrived in urban areas of Quetta.

Caritas Pakistan staffers in Quetta and Islamabad-Rawalpindi "have positioned themselves so that we can respond to the emerging humanitarian crisis," he said.

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