30 couples marry in mass wedding ceremony in Kandahar

As many as 30 couples married in a mass wedding ceremony in southern Kandahar province on Thursday.

The ceremony was sponsored by a charity organization, aimed at standing against the traditional expensive and extravagant wedding parties in the country.

Former MP Sayed Ahmad Selab, head of the organization, stated: “People are facing poverty, unemployment, and economic crisis; and paying off the bride price, or dowry; bad-marriage tradition; overspending; and extravagance by the bride’s family must be barred so that domestic violence and crimes are prevented.”

“Selab charity foundation has begun a campaign to [persuade people] to reduce bride price as well as to eliminate bad-marriage traditions,” Selab said.

Welcoming the organization’s initiative, the couples who got married on Thursday stated that they had waited years to get married as “they were not able to afford the usual lavish affair.”

Wahidullah, one of the grooms who married on Thursday, stated he was very happy that he “could get married because I was not able to afford the ceremony.”

Weddings in Afghanistan are traditionally very expensive as dowries need to be paid, gold has to be purchased, bridal wear bought, and hundreds, and sometimes thousands of guests attend the parties at massive wedding halls.

In addition, the groom has to pay from 100,000 AFN ($1,000) up to 3,000,000 AFN ($29,000) as the dowry.

Young couples often start married life in debt as they take out loans to pay for the event.