Afghan Father Of Over Seventy Children Admits He Cannot Remember Their Names As Dozen Die From Neglect

In a jarring BBC video now circulating widely, 57-year-old Muhammad Sadeq from rural Uruzgan province, Afghanistan, calmly explains how he has fathered more than 70 children with four wives, yet cannot recall most of their names. “Most of the time, I simply call them ‘son’ or ‘child,’” he says, while footage shows barefoot kids milling around a crumbling mud compound with no proper doors or windows, thin curtains for walls, and fires lit with scrap paper because firewood is unaffordable.⁠Khaama

Sadeq’s youngest child is just three months old. Of the more than 70 he has fathered, roughly 58 survive. The rest—at least a dozen—died young. His explanation? The mothers were “very young” and “did not know how to care for the children, breastfeed them or look after them.” Some succumbed to tuberculosis, measles, and other preventable illnesses. Sadeq married all four of his wives between the ages of 13 and 16, and after Sadeq, starting at age 20, he scraped together bride prices.⁠Khaama

The family’s daily reality is grinding. They typically eat only twice a day. Children sometimes go to bed hungry. Many walk without shoes. Sleeping arrangements are so cramped that six or seven share a thin blanket. Sadeq works sporadically at a car dealership, earning about 1,000 Afghanis (roughly $15) per vehicle sold. Some of his children collect plastic and paper for fuel. He counts heads at night to make sure none are missing, and he once mixed up a daughter’s name at a wedding ceremony. He has admitted he failed in his responsibilities and that, had he known how hard it would be, “I would never have [had so many kids].” Yet the family continues to grow.⁠News18

Sadeq has said one of his goals in producing so many children was to increase the number of followers of the Prophet Muhammad. He has appealed for government and aid help so his kids can eat and go to school. The video, originally shared by BBC Global Women, has drawn sharp reactions online, with many noting the human cost of early marriages, repeated adolescent pregnancies, and the decision to keep having children far beyond any capacity to provide for them.

This is not an abstract policy debate. It is a concrete illustration of what happens when cultural norms prioritizing large families and early marriage collide with extreme poverty and limited healthcare. The children are the ones paying the price, going hungry, walking barefoot, and, in too many cases, dying young, while their father struggles to remember who they are.