MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Afghan clerics' presence at a birth control seminar may show an attitude change toward an out-of-control population rate, officials in a non-profit group said.
Muslim mullahs, who were paid to attend a presentation in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, sponsored by Marie Stopes International, a sexual health support services organization, nevertheless seemed somewhat receptive to learning ways of effective population management, The New York Times reported Saturday.
Afghanistan's fertility rate is 6 children per woman -- the highest in Asia, the newspaper reported.
"If we work hard on this issue, we can rescue our country from misery," a doctor who assists in leading the mullahs' classes, Rahmatuddin Bashardost, said.
"This was a useful and friendly discussion. If you have too many children and you can't control them, that's bad for Islam," said a seminar participant, Mullah Amruddin.
"People kept asking us how to have less children," Syed Wasem Massoom, a mullah and one of the trainers said.
This year alone, birth control pills sales nearly doubled from 6,000 packages in January to 11,000 in September, Marie Stopes figures showed, the Times reported.
Afghan women, working for the group, distribute birth control door to door. The Times reported the women said they have observed some change in attitude, but that most people still are wary of their motives. They said many people believe the sexual health workers are paid by the United States or are sent by Christian missionaries who want to reduce the Muslim population.
