US soldiers told to ignore Afghan allies’ abuse of boys

How about turning backs to worst imaginable atrocities – child abuse?

“The American policy of nonintervention is intended to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militia units the United States has trained to fight the Taliban”, reports NYT.

Afghanistan has been plagued by rampant sexual abuse of children for a long time particularly with armed commanders who control much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is known as “bacha bazi“, which reportedly translates to “boy play“.

American troops in Afghanistan say they were sickened to discover that numerous Afghan allies they worked with sexually abused young boys-and that they were expected to ignore it. Soldiers and Marines tell the New York Times that they were ordered not to intervene even when Afghan commanders abused children on military bases.

It isn’t clear from the piece exactly when this policy of “cultural sensitivity” toward child abuse began.

Before he was fatally shot in 2012, Lance Cpl. Gregory Buckley Jr. tells the Times that his son told him how he could hear the screams of boys being abused by Afghan policemen on his base. He was told by his officers to look the other way as the rape was considered “their culture”. First Class Charles Martland, according to the Times. Especially compared to Abu Ghraib, which, according to summary coverage found at the BBC, involved abusive and criminal behavior on the part of roughly three dozen USA military members and contractors, the current horrors seem worthy of at least an additional month of front-page Times coverage. Jason Brezler emailed his superiors a warning about a police commander named Sarwar Jan, who had had a record of corruption and abuse dating back to 2010.

The Army relieved Sgt. “My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it’s their culture”. Martland wants to remain in the military.

Following the incident the Army relived Quinn of his command and later he resigned. Quinn beat up an Afghan commander and now the Army is trying to forcibly retire another soldier who helped him.

Capt. Quinn has since left the Army and joined the private sector.

Although the issue has been addressed before, the appalling policy is coming under new scrutiny as it has emerged that certain soldiers have faced discipline, even career ruin, for taking a stand against it. Martland’s career. “The police commander acknowledged that it was true, but brushed it off”.

Some soldiers believed that the policy made sense, even if they were personally distressed at the sexual predation they witnessed or heard about. “There would be no express requirement that USA military personnel in Afghanistan report it”, he added, unless when rape is being used as a weapon of war”. Martland. “We do not have any power or the ability to use our hands to compel them to be what we see as morally better”.