From the New York Times editorial:
The incidents of sexual assault on children described by American service members who served in Afghanistan are sickening. Boys screaming in the night as Afghan police officers attacked them. Three or four Afghan men found lying on the floor of a room at a military base with children between them, presumably for sex play.
No less offensive is that American soldiers and Marines who wanted to intervene could not. According to an account in The Times by Joseph Goldstein, they were ordered by their superiors to ignore abusive behavior by their Afghan allies and “to look the other way because it’s their culture.”
The Pentagon’s indulgent, even complicit, attitude toward pedophiles among the Afghan militias that it funded and trained is indefensible, at odds with American values and with international laws Washington has taken the lead in promoting.
Pervasive sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan. It is especially pronounced among armed commanders who control rural regions and hold sway over the population there. The practice is known as bacha bazi, or boy play; powerful Afghan men often surround themselves with young teenagers as a mark of social status.
By instructing American soldiers and Marines not to interfere, even if the incidents occurred on American bases, the Pentagon has chosen — reprehensibly — to sacrifice vulnerable children in order to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militias it needs to fight the Taliban.
Some American service members who opposed the policy have been disciplined or seen their careers ruined because they fought it. In one case, Dan Quinn, then a Special Forces captain, beat up an Afghan militia commander in 2011 for keeping a boy chained to his bed as a sex slave. The Army subsequently relieved Captain Quinn of his command, and he has since left the military. Now the Army is trying to retire Sgt. First Class Charles Martland, a Special Forces member who joined Captain Quinn in the beating.
Continue at the New York Times.
Where is the press? Where is the Pentagon? The military brass turning a blind eye to this kind of reprehensible child abuse is simply unacceptable on all counts. No human being should be used as a sex slave, especially children. I don’t give a rat’s ass what the customs are.
Absolutely rape of any sort should not be condoned on any US military base. I expect anyone wearing a uniform representing the United States of America to immediately interfere with any sexual aggression towards anyone–adult or child, regardless of location in the world.
I expect the President to deal with this situation immediately. Anyone who gave an order to ignore the raping of children and teenagers needs to go. Immediately. I don’t care if they are sitting behind some big-ass desk at the Pentagon or if they are in the field on Afghanistan. President Obama needs to fire them. After that, I just don’t know.
Afghanistan cannot be saved. It is a third world country with horrible practices and horrible human rights violations. Their track record on the treatment of women is deplorable. Is the burqa still worn? Yes. That should be a clue that the value placed on human life is approaching zero. Why are we still there? What are our national objectives? At this point, perhaps diplomacy is impossible.
Full story New York Times
This has been reported on for the past two years at least but for some reason it just hasn’t made page 1 headlines. It’s disgusting.
The only recent story of it that I can think of was reported on Fox News last month about a decorated Green Beret who got kicked out after shoving an Afghan police commander. The Afghan commander raped a young boy and then beat the mother when she confronted him. The Green Beret took action and then was kicked out for doing so.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/21/army-kicking-out-decorated-green-beret-who-stood-up-for-afghan-rape-victim/
The Times covered it on the 20th. It is disgusting and unacceptable. Its worse that Abu Ghraib in my opinion, because of the age of the victims.
I expect Obama to fire any one at the Pentagon who gave this order to ignore. Our troops who have been discharged or disciplined need to be reinstated with full and back pay.
I am seething over this.
Thanks for the post. Why did the news folks let this one drop? I saw that Fox had it since Sept 21. That’s a month ago. They should have hammered that one until every news station carried it.
Does this require cultural change so people know it is wrong and why it is wrong or is it a case of social norms against abuse being ignored by those in positions of power?
We might want to take a lesson from the past, when western and eastern customs clashed. Charles Napier, a British General was faced with some irate locales, as the British Army would not let the men engage in their long-standing custom of burning widows to death:
“Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs.”
This has been reported for years. However, this time, there are accusations that this caused the deaths of US service members, so it now, finally, has legs.
However, unless we colonize Afghanistan, and do a Napier on them, we will not change their culture. The only thing that we could have done is put out that such practices would not be tolerated wherever Allied forces were operating.
As much as I agree that these are despicable acts, I believe Steve Thomas and Cargo have struck the right balance. However, I don’t believe we have the chutzpah to do what they have recommended. I sometimes think castration is a prerequisite for senior military and State Department leadership positions.