Cash-strapped Taliban ban fighters taking multiple wives

Polygamy is common within the Taliban and under Pashtun tradition grooms pay the bride’s father for her hand
Polygamy is common within the Taliban and under Pashtun tradition grooms pay the bride’s father for her hand
REUTERS

The leader of the Taliban has issued an unprecedented decree ordering his fighters not to marry more than one woman to cut rising costs caused by militants demanding cash to pay for multiple brides.

Citing “financial constraints” within the terrorist group, Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada said that soaring expenses linked to buying wives had fuelled corruption allegations and “criticism from our enemies”, just as leaders were locked in peace talks with the Afghan government.

Polygamy is legal in Afghanistan and Pakistan and common within the Taliban. Mullah Omar, the group’s founder, is thought to have had at least three wives including the eldest daughter of Osama bin Laden, a marriage that cemented the Taliban’s alliance with al-Qaeda in the years before 9/11.

The Taliban’s dominant