Hundred Afghan couples marry in Sar-e-Pol mass wedding

SAR-E-POL (Khaama Press): 100 young couples who were unable to have their wedding ceremonies were married in a mass wedding sponsored by a generous businessman in the Sar-e-Pol province of northern Afghanistan.
Hundreds of Sar-e-Pol residents, local officials, religious scholars, tribal elders, and family members of the brides and grooms attended the ass wedding ceremony at the Sar-e-Pol Stadium.
According to Mohammad Akbar Sultanzada’s representative, the open-handed national businessman paid for the expenses of the mass wedding ceremony for these 100 young couples.
Each of these newlyweds received two six-meter hand-woven Afghan rugs, an amount of 25,000 Afghanis in cash, and wedding gowns.
The deputy governor of the Taliban government in Sar-e-Pol, Mohammad Nader Haqjo, applauded the holding of this mass wedding ceremony saying that marriage is the only thing that can stop “vice” and moral corruption in society.
It’s customary for financially-strapped Afghan couples to pool their resources to host affordable, mass weddings, and this practice is already prevalent in Sar-e-Pol province.
Two of the newlywed grooms, Obaidullah and Mohammad Murad, said that financial issues prevented them from holding their wedding ceremony.
In Afghanistan, a country with a severe lack of resources, marriage is a costly ceremony with hefty dowries, extravagant gifts, and expensive receptions.
Earlier last week, with the help of the Union of people of Sar-e-Pol living abroad, a mass wedding ceremony for 40 couples was also arranged in Sar-e-Pol city, the provincial capital.