A photo of a 12-year-old Afghan girl allegedly for sale has long been shared on social media. There is great interest and attention to this heartbreaking scene. Even women's rights organizations, children's rights organizations are called upon to take action. Here are some of those posts.
This is the original photo:
The photo has left a more profound impression on Turkish social network users.
The owner of the following profile writes that the mothers, sisters and wives of the men who fled leaving them in Afghanistan are being sold in the "Taliban market".
The Ukrainian media have also done its best, even accused the minor of committing terrorism.
Similar information was spread in the Azerbaijani media as well.
Faktyoxla Lab. has investigated the authenticity of the posts.
The investigation revealed that the photo was taken on May 18, 2011, during anti-NATO protests in Afghanistan. The protests were sparked by a NATO operation in the northern Afghan city of Taloqan that killed four people, including two women and two men, on May 17, 2011. NATO-led forces said the dead were armed rebels. According to the Independent, 12 people, including four civilians, were killed, and 80 were injured in the violent protests against NATO. Authorities in Takhar province said more than 2,000 protesters clashed with police in the provincial capital, Taloqan.
The photo was from the Reuters photo archive, and its author was a photographer named Wahdat Afghan.
The description of the photo reads:
"An Afghan girl whose family members were killed overnight after a raid by NATO and Afghan forces, covers her face as she weeps during a protest in Taloqan May 18, 2011. Ten people have been killed and fifty wounded in violent protests against the killing of two men and two women in a night-time raid in north Afghanistan, a top local health official said."
According to some reports, there were German soldiers in the Coalition forces that opened fire. SPIEGEL provided an extensive photo report on the matter.
The Voice of America also confirmed the fact. Even the Russian media have confirmed the reports, saying that NATO soldiers opened fire on the crowd.
Citing the facts, we do not claim that there are no early marriages in Afghanistan. Early marriages are common in Afghanistan. According to UNICEF, Afghanistan ranks 18th in the world in terms of child marriage (572,000). Besides, 35% of girls in Afghanistan marry before the age of 18 and 9% before 15. This is the information on child marriage on the UNFPA Afghanistan website:
"Child marriages are illegal but widespread in Afghanistan. Afghanistan's minimum age of marriage for girls is 16 or 15, well below the internationally recommended standard of 18. These unions mainly happen in rural areas, especially along the borders with Pakistan."
Conclusion: The claim that the photo belongs to a girl put up for auction in Afghanistan is false. The picture depicts a girl who lost her family members when NATO (Germany) and Afghan police opened fire on a protesting crowd. The photo was taken on May 18, 2011, during the protests.
According to another claim, the photo of these women, who attract attention with their revealing clothes, was once taken in Afghanistan.
We checked whether the photo was taken in Afghanistan.
As a result of our research, it became clear that this photo is not the only one; it is from a photo session taken from several angles.
However, our investigation revealed that these photos were taken by photographer Allan Grant for Life magazine, and they were kept in the archives of the magazine.
So, the photos were taken not in Afghanistan but in Beverly Hills, California. Some of the details in the images prove it.
Conclusion: The claim that these photos were taken in Afghanistan in the 1960s is not true.
