Is Russia Going The Way Of The Taliban?

"Friends of Lavrov" passed another scandalous "law" in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan's ruling Taliban have effectively abolished the minimum age of marriage for women, replacing it with a reference to puberty. In girls, it typically begins between the ages of eight and 13, and according to the largest and oldest Sunni school of Islamic law, the minimum age of puberty is nine, points out The Times. The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has condemned the authorities' new rule, which it calls "de facto" and Russia has recognized as entirely official.

The Taliban government has issued a divorce decree, "Principles of Marital Separation," which UNAMA notes "represents another step in undermining the rights of Afghan women and girls and further entrenches systemic discrimination." Of particular concern to the mission was the chapter on the possibility of divorce for pubescent girls who are married: "It is implied by this that child marriage is allowed." The Taliban also found that the silence of a pubescent "virgin girl" could be interpreted as consent to marriage. "This undermines the principle of free and full consent and fails to protect the best interests of the child," UNAMA insists.

The new rules effectively legalize child rape, international experts are adamant. "This is another level of brutality that the Taliban have been inflicting on women since they came to power," Horia Mosadiq, director of the Conflict Analysis Network organization, told The Times.

Till now, under Afghanistan's 1977 civil code, the age of marriage was 16 for girls and 18 for boys. Girls under 16 could marry with the permission of their father or a judge. Marriage of girls under 15 was criminalized in the 2009 law on the Elimination of Violence Against Women.

The new law, approved by supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and published in the regime's official gazette, abolishes the age limit, Mosadiq states:

"If a girl reaches puberty at nine or ten, she is considered to have reached the age of marriage."

The Russian authorities are to some extent following the path of the Taliban, which they recognize, by arranging conditions for teenage girls to give birth as early as possible. They come up with their crazy ideas in an attempt to pull the country out of the demographic hole it has found itself in as a result of Vladimir Putin's war and his longstanding policies, which have led to long-term economic stagnation and deprived citizens of any certainty about the future. About a dozen regions have introduced payments to pregnant schoolgirls, and some have even formulated plans for their number.

The government of the Kaluga region at the end of 2024 established payments for pregnant schoolgirls and part-time students, and then approved a plan according to which payments of 100,000 rubles should receive 396 girls over three years. Following it, authorities in the Orel region ruled in August 2025 that the program of payments to pregnant schoolgirls and female students should cover 150 that year, 160 in 2026, and already 180 in 2027.

According to the Taliban's new law, in some cases a girl can end up in a marriage even before puberty if it is arranged by her father or grandfather. "The law basically recognizes that underage marriages are taking place," says Shaharzad Akbar, executive director of Rawadari, an Afghan human rights organization. - If this happens, the girl can dissolve the marriage, but only by going to a Taliban court and only if certain conditions are met."

In general, women will now have very few options to dissolve their marriages. While men retain the unilateral right to divorce, women must utilize complex and restrictive court procedures, states UNAMA. Akbar explains:

"Even if a husband abuses his wife, that in itself is not grounds for divorce. If your husband is abusive and you go to court, you will be offered an attempt at reconciliation instead of divorce and protection."

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