New Law Seeks to Cap Wedding Costs

The final draft of a new law capping the number of guests allowed at a wedding and the cost per head has been delivered to the Council of Ministers, but may meet some resistance.

Afghanistan's Minister of Justice Habibullah Ghalib said that the new rules, which will be part of the Marriage Law, seek to address the financial problems faced by people wishing to marry in Afghanistan.

It caps the number of guests allowed at a wedding at 400 people, and caps the cost per head charged by wedding halls at 300 Afs.

Ghalib said the draft of the law was complete and had been submitted to the Council of Ministers for final approval, but it may face some hurdles.

"We have sent this law to Council of Ministers. If they approve it, the [financial] problems will be less, but there are some figurers who don't want to approve this law," he told TOLOnews on Tuesday.

Some people say that the law will be rejected by ministers with financial interests in hotels or wedding halls, because the new law will directly impact on the business' bottom line.

However, the law was welcomed by Kabul residents who called on government to approve it soon.

"The law should be approved by the government to avoid the big budgets needed for marriage," one Kabul resident said. "The government should step in because people are in a poor situation."