HARROWING footage appears to show a market where Afghan families are being forced to sell their daughters as child brides.
Children as young as five are reported to be being sold as desperate families starve under the cruel rule of the Taliban.
Video appeared to be taken in Western Afghanistan shows a group of young girls who have reportedly been brought to be sold to older men.
Parents are widely reported to have been forced to do the unthinkable as they suffer from lack of water, food and descend into poverty.
It comes after the Taliban reconquered the country last year following the chaotic withdrawal of the West.
And with no aid now coming their way, desperate parents are being forced to make ends meet anyway they can.
Afghan children are reportedly being sold for as little as £400 each.
The children are sold into marriage – with reports of babies as young as 20 days old being offered for sale.
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Afghan families are reported to take the money and then raise the child until she hits puberty.
The children are then handed over to their new "husband".
Radio Farda footage shows a group of young girls along with some toddlers and babies as they sit around being offered for sale.
"We are starving.. we have no choice," one of the mums said.
And one of the girls, Salehe, 9, was recently sold and is now married to her much old husband.
Asked why she was sold, she says: "I was sold because of hunger".
The horrifying video is the latest evidence of the sale of children in Afghanistan, with a flurry of reports since the Taliban took over last August.
Iranian journalist Farnaz Fassihi tweeted: "This is horrific. A market for selling little girls in Afghanistan, where parents say they are selling their girls as young as 6-year-olds for marriage because of poverty and hunger."
Child marriage has been widely documented in Afghanistan – often justified using twisted versions of Islam.
Women and girls have long been warned to be the biggest potential victims of the Taliban takeover as the fighters roll back 20 years of progress.
And as the Taliban stormed across Afghanistan last year, it was reported their militants were already kidnapping children as young as 12.
Women were brutally oppressed when then the militant group last controlled Afghanistan in the 90s.
During the group's five year rule women were left housebound, only being able to leave with a male chaperone and while wearing a full burqa.
"The face of a woman is a source of corruption", according to the Taliban.
Taliban fighters have already banned women and girls from schools, even as the jihad group attempts to portray a more "moderate" face.
Women are also now being restricted form the work force – telling all female government employees to stay at home.
US officials have said the Taliban have detained up to 29 women and their families in recent weeks.
They have also cracked down on women's rights protests challenging their rule.
And meanwhile, Unicef have warned that the situation in Afghanistan in terms of poverty is fast becoming the "worst humanitarian crisis in the world".
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