The 60-year-old man claimed the child was a “religious offering” and sent to him as a “gift”.

He claimed the child bride’s parents were aware of the marriage that took place in a village on the Ghor province of central Afghanistan.

But the child’s parents claim their daughter was kidnapped from Herat province in western Afghanistan in June.

Sayed Mohammad Karim defended the marriage in a radio interview.

He said: "The girl was given to me as a gift and we were married so I could raise her.

After the parents gave their daughter to me, they said, 'you can take her wherever you want.’”

Deputy police commander of Ghor, Mohammed Zeman Azami, said: "This man has said his wedding to this girl was approved by her mother and father.

"We spoke to her parents and they strongly deny they attended the wedding. On the phone, the parents told me their daughter was kidnapped."

The girl has been rescued and placed in a woman’s shelter in Ghor.

Masoom Anwar, head of the women affairs department in Ghor, said: "This girl does not speak, but repeats only one thing: 'I am afraid of this man’.”

Hospital officials say the girl has not been physically harmed and shows no sign of psychological harm.

The legal age of marriage in Afghanistan, under civil law, is 16 years for women and 18 years for men.

Poor families have been known to marry their daughters off at a young age to secure their futures, Express reported.

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