KABUL: Dozens of Afghan women concealed in thick green shawls were married off in an austere mass wedding in Kabul on Monday, in a ceremony attended by hundreds of guests and gun-toting Taliban fighters.

Marriage is a costly affair in deeply impoverished Afghanistan, traditionally involving huge dowries, expensive gifts and lavish parties.

Historically, couples from families unable to foot the bill have sometimes opted to pool their resources in low-cost large scale marriages. Monday’s ceremony hitching 70 couples was one of the largest recently witnessed in Afghanistan, currently in economic freefall since the return of the Taliban.

“Today, no young man wants to bear the burden of an expensive wedding,” said groom Ebadullah Niazai, who had waited eight years to be married.

“I have no job. We were short of money and so we decided to marry at a mass wedding ceremony,” said 22 year-old groom Esmatullah Bashardost, who hails from the minority Hazara community.

Bashardost, sporting a traditional Afghan cap, said his wedding would likely be the most “happy day” of his life.

However celebrations were dramatically dampened by frigid restrictions the Taliban have imposed on social life.

Before they seized power in August weddings were riotously colourful affairs marked with singing, dancing, and some degree of mingling between men and women in the deeply conservative nation. On Monday the brides and grooms were kept separate throughout the ceremony.

Guests of opposite sexes were separated by around a dozen Taliban fighters patrolling with weapons, and the only entertainment was poetry recitations and speeches by charity organisers of the event.

Journalists were not allowed to speak to the brides, who wore crisp white gowns under their concealing shawls, but were permitted to photograph and film them.

Published in Dawn,June 14th, 2022