Women | Rukhshana Media reports that widows in Afghanistan's Balkh province are pressed to marry their brothers-in-law or lose their inheritance and children

ACW | October 23, 2026 — Widows in Afghanistan's Balkh province are being pressed into "ewer-khwahi", forced marriage to a late husband's brother, or losing their inheritance and children, Rukhshana Media reported on Friday.

According to Rukhshana, a 34-year-old woman whose husband died in 2019 refused to marry her brother-in-law. She says she lost her share of the inheritance as a result, which she estimates at about 400,000 afghanis.

The mother of three now bakes bread for neighbours and earns up to 200 afghanis a day. Rukhshana reports that her in-laws threatened to take her children if she complained, so she has not pursued her rights formally.

Another woman from Balkh, aged 28, told Rukhshana that after her husband died in a traffic accident, his family made her choose between giving up her children and inheritance or marrying his brother. She married him, 25 years her senior, about two years ago and describes the marriage as violent.

A women's rights activist told Rukhshana that since the Taliban returned and banned women's education and work, "these customs have increased again", adding that women accept such marriages so that their children do not go hungry. Rukhshana withheld the women's identities for their safety.

Rukhshana's report carries no response from the Taliban administration.

Background: Citing a 2010 UNAMA and UN human rights office report on harmful traditional practices, Rukhshana describes the custom as a way to deprive women of their inheritance. The outlet says the 34-year-old previously worked in a beauty salon that closed when the Taliban banned women's salons in 2023. A recent UNESCO–UNICEF report found that Afghanistan's women university lecturers have fallen to just over 100.

Why it matters: Forced marriage strips women of the right to choose a spouse and to inherit. According to the activist quoted by Rukhshana, the Taliban's bans on women's work and education have deepened women's financial dependence and opened the way to such marriages.

ACW will continue to follow this story.

Source: Rukhshana Media — 'Ewer-khwahi': a custom that still claims women's lives

Photo: Mazar-i-Sharif city view, Marko Beljan / Unsplash (illustrative)