Child marriage

Many are on the brink of starvation amid the strict regime and the worst drought in 30 years.

World Vision New Zealand national director Grant Bayldon said Afghanistan was now likely the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

"[Years of drought] mean crops have failed and then with the Ukraine crisis going on, it's meaning that the price of grain and getting it into Afghanistan has skyrocketed. People have less money and food is more expensive," he said.

The average household income was just $1 per day.

Mohammad Karim, said to be aged around 60, was held in central Ghor province as he claimed her parents gave him the six-year-old girl as a "religious offering", officials said.

But officials cited the family of the girl — believed to be in shock — as saying that she was abducted from western Herat province, bordering Iran.

"This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: 'I am afraid of this man'," said head of the women affairs department in Ghor, Masoom Anwari.