Muhammad Sadeq has fathered 70 children with his four wives. The family lives in poverty in a mud house with no proper doors or windows. The family cannot afford firewood and burns paper to cook their meals. The children go barefoot because there is no money for shoes, and they sometimes go to bed hungry.
Sadeq works at a car dealership and earns around 1,000 afghani (just under 140 NOK) for every car sold. This is the family’s only source of income. The children collect paper and plastic that can be used as fuel. The youngest child is just three months old.
– Twelve children died because their mothers were children themselves
In an interview with the BBC (most detailed on BBC Urdu), he explains that the family is so large that he cannot remember their names:
– I cannot remember all their names. Most of the time, I just call them ‘son’ or ‘child’.
Twelve of the children have died. Sadeq blames this on the fact that the mothers were young and inexperienced when they got married:
– I married young women. Many of the children died because their mothers were very young. They didn’t know how to look after the children, breastfeed them or care for them. Some of the deaths were also due to illness.
Sadeq admits that he has failed as a father, but continues to have children nonetheless.
An Afghan man has 70 children despite being unable to feed and look after them.
“I cannot remember all their names.”
12 of his children have died and he has blamed their deaths on the mothers being ‘young’ and unable to “breastfeed them or look after them.” pic.twitter.com/wciWJzF9vu
— Oli London (@OliLondonTV) 24 October 2026
Sadeq’s story highlights several aspects of Afghan society: extreme poverty, large families, child marriage and limited access to healthcare. Afghanistan is one of the world’s poorest countries; infant mortality is high and child marriage is widespread, particularly in rural areas.
