By KUNA
Kabul : Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called upon the religious scholars of his war-battered country not to discourage women from getting education.
He was addressing a ceremony organized in connection with the International Women Day here on Saturday.
Afghanistan needs skilled nurses, female doctors and teachers to treat and educate the nation, said the Afghan leader. He also urged parents to refrain from coercing their daughters get married in childhood.
Afghanistan is one of the top third world countries where girls are married in childhood. Cases of child marriages are reported from all parts of this impoverished country and in some cases, the parents marry their daughters to men, aged 70 and above.
Karzai asked the religious leaders of his country to encourage parents to send their daughters to schools. Again, people in the provinces, especially in the southern and eastern parts of Afghanistan, do not allow girls to go to school, get education and become teachers, doctors or work in offices with men.
He pointed out that in many parts, girls of very young age are being married to older men by their parents just to get monetary benefits or settle family feuds and enmities. The president said girls are not bank cheques or commodities and they should not be treated in such way.