US involvement in enslavement and rape of Afghan children
By
Kayla Costa
29 January 2018
A report released Monday revealed the United States’ long-term complicity in widespread sexual violence against Afghan boys. Between 2010 and 2016 alone, there were nearly 6,000 accusations of child sexual abuse reported by American military personnel, with no actions taken in response.
In a practice known as bacha bazi, or “boy play,” high-ranking Afghan elites use boys between the ages of 10 and 18 to entertain them as dancers, dressed in make-up and girls’ clothing. They then hold the boys hostage, raping them and forcing them to engage in other sexual acts over extended periods of time. Once these boys escape their enslavement, they are left with deep psychological, emotional, and social trauma.
The US military has been aware of these abusive practices for years, but has worked to hide them from the public eye in order to proceed with its cooperative relationship with the Afghan police and military.
Completed in June 2017, the report was to remain classified as “Secret//Not Releasable to Foreign Nationals” until 2042. The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR) was well aware that the incidents were in violation of domestic and international human rights law, but the Pentagon continued to funnel billions into their operations through a loophole called the “notwithstanding clause.”
The decision by the Obama administration to commission the report in 2015 only arrived after an article by the New York Times recounted reports from soldiers and commanders in the US military, some of whom had been dismissed for their attempts to intervene in the crimes. Captain Dan Quinn was one of those who left the Special Forces, telling interviewers, “ We were…