At the age of 17, Rahima's future has already been decided.
Her family has promised her to an older man in an arranged marriage they were forced into, in order to afford to put food on the table.
Rahima — whose name has been changed to protect her identity — is one of five siblings living in Sar-e-Pul province in northern Afghanistan, where arranged marriages in exchange for currency can still be common practice for financially struggling families.
As the economic crisis in Afghanistan intensified, Rahima's father and older brother struggled to find work and couldn't feed the family.
Her mother had previously lost five babies after being unable to afford healthcare, making her desperate to save her other children, and therefore, agreed to arrange her daughter's marriage.
However, shortly after her engagement, Rahima dropped out of school and her parents said her mental wellbeing suffered.
Rahima is just one of the thousands of children living with poor mental wellbeing in Afghanistan, which specialists warn is on the brink of a mental catastrophe, fuelled by the economic crises and decades of conflict.
More than 4 million people, including children, are in need of mental health support but only a quarter end up receiving it, according to UNICEF.
Due to psychological and emotional distress, many children drop out of school to work and support their families.
As was the case for Rahima, who was at the top of her class and loved going to school before she was betrothed.
"I was lost and there was pressure from every side — the conflict and pressures from my family — and I became disillusioned about continuing my education," Rahima said.
"After the engagement, everything changed … she became disengaged in life and school and argued with her siblings," her mother said.
"When I used to ask her about school, she would hit her head on the wall continuously and then she would get a headache."
Up to 46 per cent of girls not attending school, report finds
Ongoing fear to attend school is an added strain on many children, especially girls.
Girls' secondary schools have been closed in most provinces, including Kabul, since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
The leadership backtracked on promises to open all schools in March.
After just one year under Taliban rule, one-in-four girls have shown signs of depression or anxiety, and two-thirds of children, in general, say they have they felt negative feelings — including feeling more worried, sadder and angrier — according to a report by Save the Children (STC).
The STC report also found girls are almost twice as likely as boys to frequently go to bed hungry, and 46 per cent of girls say they're not attending school compared with 20 per cent of boys.
It found 26 per cent of girls are showing signs of depression, compared with 16 per cent of boys.
Several humanitarian organisations have called on the international community to provide critical aid.
STC is calling for long-term funding for mental health and psychosocial support, to help struggling children deal with their ongoing emotional stress.
Support networks 'simply do not exist'
The lives of children in Afghanistan have changed in almost every way since the Taliban took control.
More and more children are out of school, taking part in dangerous forms of child labour, and the economic crisis as well as new restrictions on the rights of boys and girls has created a perfect storm for children and teens.
Acting STC country director in Afghanistan Nora Hassanien said the current crisis had pushed children to their mental and emotional limits.
"Save the Children is extremely concerned because the support networks and psychosocial services that should be helping the most-vulnerable children simply do not exist in most communities in Afghanistan."
She said that, if children were not given the support and treatment they needed, it could lead to long-term health and psychological impacts.
"These long-term impacts may exacerbate and maintain conflict, perpetuate cycles of poverty, and reinforce family and community instability," she said.
