Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai called Saturday on his countrymen to stop forcing their under-aged daughters to marry, especially to men several decades older, and to allow them to be educated.Speaking at a ceremony in Kabul attended by about 300 women to mark International Women's Day, Karzai also said threats from a Taliban-led insurgency were keeping girls out of school. "I call on religious leaders, tribal elders and particularly men: stop forcing your under-aged girls to marry, stop marrying them to old men," he said, adding later he was referring in particular to men aged above 50.
Up to 80 percent of Afghan women face forced marriage, and nearly two-thirds are married before the legal age of 16, according to the United Nations.
Karzai also stressed the importance of educating Afghan girls, who were denied schooling under the 1996-2001 Taliban government. "In parts of Afghanistan, Afghan girls can't go to schools because of the terrorism problem," he said. "In other places, like places without terrorism problems, girls are not allowed to go to schools."