My big fat Afghan wedding: lavish receptions to be curbed due to financial constraints

Ministers are considering the legislation amid concern competition to show wedding hospitality is causing acute financial distress for the grooms who must fund the escalating festivities.

Family pressure means each groom tries to outdo previous celebrations, often leaving him with no choice but to get into debt or postpone marriage for years and work abroad to save money.

Ministry of justice officials told the Daily Telegraph that clerics feared a generation of men would be unable to marry, leading to a rise in unmarried sex and prostitution.

Unemployment across Afghanistan is rife and the average annual income is little more than a few hundred pounds.

Young men in Kabul complain it is now commonplace for an average wedding to cost £6,500 and entertain 600 guests. Well-off families may spend five times that.

The law would also seek to ban the deeply-rooted tradition of grooms paying dowries and having to regularly buy gifts such as gold for their fiancées and her relatives.

Farid Ahmad Najibi, spokesman for the justice ministry, said the law would stem from an article in the Afghan constitution which directs the state to protect family life.

He said: "We are doing this because it is a big problem for young men and we must protect the family.

"Unfortunately in Afghan society when one of your relatives has a big wedding with lots of guests, you must have a bigger wedding or it is deeply shameful."

Conservative clerics are also expected to use the legislation to seek restrictions on dancing and mixing of sexes during receptions.

Weddings have become a thriving business since the fall of the Taliban. Glass and neon wedding halls have sprung up where wealthy families can entertain up to 1,500 guests with food and dancing.

The Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries estimates there are 350 halls in the capital alone.

The proposed legislation would cap guest lists at 300 and see the local municipal authority draw up a set menu that could not exceed £2.80-a-head in the capital, or £2.10 elsewhere – including soft drinks.

Wedding hall owners who exceeded this would face fines or prison. The law may restrict the number of musicians as well.

Set lunch menus at the biggest halls currently typically begin at around £8 per head and do not include cake, music or decoration.

Afghan bachelors told the Daily Telegraph wedding costs were a constant preoccupation and they welcomed any attempt to cut the burden, though doubted it could be enforced.

Fahim, a 22-year-old graduate recently returned from studies in India, said: "If you ask a lot of young men why they are not married, they will all say it is the money.

"Now you can find a lot of men aged more than 35 who are not married."