Reading – U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies

“Rampant sexual abuse of children has long been a problem in Afghanistan, particularly among armed commanders who dominate much of the rural landscape and can bully the population. The practice is called bacha bazi, literally “boy play,” and American soldiers and Marines have been instructed not to intervene — in some cases, not even when their Afghan allies have abused boys on military bases, according to interviews and court records.”

I’m sure many of you saw this article somewhere online over the weekend after it was posted to the NY Times site. It is absolutely appalling, but for some reason, not surprising to me. As a society we seem to be unwilling to “judge” other cultures, or to say anything bad about any Muslim culture in particular. In many cases, that’s a good thing.

In this case, clearly it is not. In our rush to be cooperative to a potential ally, we’ve apparently lost sight of the fact that any culture which violates basic human rights like this, cannot be viewed as acceptable.

U.S. Soldiers Told to Ignore Sexual Abuse of Boys by Afghan Allies