Afghans marry in mass ceremony in a bid to cut costs

Hundreds of couples married in a joint ceremony in Kabul, reducing the cost of traditional weddings in Afghanistan.

Kabul

Fifty couples married on Monday in a joint ceremony in the Afghan capital — a growing practice to reduce the astronomical cost of traditional weddings in the impoverished country.

The couples were joined in matrimony in one of the dozens of glitzy wedding halls that punctuate Kabul, but the ceremony itself was somewhat austere.

Since the return of the Taliban in August 2021 weddings have become low-key affairs, with dancing and music effectively banned after authorities deemed such activities un-Islamic.

In front of the City Star wedding hall near the airport, around a hundred turbaned men dressed in traditional salwar-kameez chatted in groups — not a single woman present.

They decorated cars with green ribbons and red plastic roses forming hearts to carry the newlyweds away.

Roohullah Rezayi, 18, due to leave with his wife in a few hours, said he could not afford a solo wedding.