Afghan pedophile soldiers and police

[khad]

Or why they resist the Taliban
http://www.examiner.com/x-24740-Norfolk-Human-Rights-Examiner~y2010m2d23-Bacha-Bazi-Pedophilia-and-child-trafficking-justified-by-the-tradition-in-Afghanistan (http://www.examiner.com/x-24740-Norfolk-Human-Rights-Examiner%7Ey2010m2d23-Bacha-Bazi-Pedophilia-and-child-trafficking-justified-by-the-tradition-in-Afghanistan)


For some people, when you think of Afghanistan, you think of war zone and their loved ones who are serving the country in a deserted soil. For others, the country reminds them of stringent Muslim ethics, by which both adulterers or homosexuals are strictly forbidden. But, not many people are aware that the country still retains its 5000 years old tradition (http://www.theworld.org/2009/09/18/dancing-boys-of-afghanistan-2/) of enslaving boys for sexual exploitation. And the notorious tradition is called Bacha Bazi.


Bacha Bazi: the dancing boys

Bacha Bazi in an Afghan phrase means "boy play" or "boy for play." In Afghan culture, women including prostitutes and belly dancers are not allowed to dance in front of men. They are segregated, and they are not even allowed to attend parties among men. Therefore, when a warlords wants to hold a party, he goes to a local village and lure boys in the age of 12 or so with money or coercion. Once the exploiters lure the boys, the boys wear dress and makeup, and dance like women in front of their owners' friends or guests. When the party is over, the owners, usually warlords and military commenders, take the boys to their beds and sleep with them. Sometimes, they share their boys with their friends for sexual abuse.[1] (http://www.iwpr.net/?p=arr&s=f&o=339770&apc_state=heniarr2007%5C)


The freedom brought to Afghan men at the expense of the boys

Currently, the Afghan soldiers, along with commenders and warlords, are primary exploiters of these boys. In fact, the Afghan soliders are taking local boys to their camps for the same exploitative purpose. They justify their misdeeds by saying that women are for babies and boys are for pleasure. [2 (http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/man-lover-thursdays.html)] They also say that Bacha Bazi is essential part of the culture of free Afghanistan because it was strictly forbidden under Taliban regime. [3] (http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/man-lover-thursdays.html) One solider, during the interview, said that Bacha bazi is as widely accepted custom as heroin usage among the Afghan soldiers. He said that 70% of the Army is participating in the Bacha bazi practice.


Failed deterrence

The Afghan government outlawed Bacha bazi practice for its obviously exploitative nature. The international community was outraged when CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/10/26/ctw.afghanistan.sex.trade/index.html) shed the light on such atrocity. Even the UN authority said that the Afghan government must do more to end Bacha bazi practice in the region. However, police men, more often than not, are not strong enough to prosecute the warlords or the exploiters of the boys. The human rights of the boys is not the government's first priority either, given that the country is still economically and politically very unstable. Prosecutors also blame on policemen for not being able to arrest exploiters for their failure of deterring the crime. [4] (http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/246409/Boys_in_Afghanistan_Sold_Into_Prostitution_Sexual_ Slavery)

(http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/246409/Boys_in_Afghanistan_Sold_Into_Prostitution_Sexual_ Slavery)
Democracy building: epic failed?

The general attitude of the Afghans towards Bacha bazi is such that " it's been there fore 1000 years" and they don't feel the needs to raise the issues now.[5 (http://dinahlord.blogspot.com/2008/07/un-to-afghanistan-bacha-bazi-or-boy.html)] One owner of a dancing boy said that it is his hobby. He said that even though he is married and have children, he loves his boy more than his wife. [6] (http://dinahlord.blogspot.com/2008/07/un-to-afghanistan-bacha-bazi-or-boy.html) He also said that it is his culture and the culture of Afghan. Clearly, his argument aligns with the principle of cultural relativism and individual freedom that the west has advocated around the world. But, perhaps the west should have but forgot to give them the instruction that the freedom and democracy come with self-governance and responsibility. And the instruction should have come before we have decided to build ( supposedly) democracy in their country. Evidently, the dancing boys love their owners, and they desire to be one of them once they grow up. But, when you advocate cultural relativism and they argue that it's their culture, what do you tell them?

[The Red Next Door]

Tabliban, Karzai government. All the same to me.

[al8]

That's very disgusting. Cultural relativism is poison. It is a most brutal status quo ideology. It is just the polite courtship to and justification of the most regressive elements in every culture.

The answer the question posed in the article is that "Afghan culture" isn't uniform and culture can change so that other strains can be come dominant. The boys that are tricked or coerced into this practice obviously are not fond of this practice, since they need to be coerced or tricked into it. The boys that are raped and degraded are also Afghan nationals - so obviously if there are Afghans that are against such a practice being part of Afghan culture - there is an Afghan culture that does not have this practice as part of Afghan culture. And better more an Afghan culture that is against this Afghan culture. So which culture does one agree with? The cultural relativists are in agreement with the backwards, unjust and vile culture and we communists are for the progressive, fair and correct culture.

What the socialist response was to this practice when they held power? Does anyone here know?

[khad]

It's not cultural relativism, it's moral relativism.

Cultural relativism would examine this practice vis-a-vis other practices in that society.

Sure, Bacha Bazi has existed for centuries in that culture, but so has outrage against it. Which is why so many Afghans support killing the police.

http://paulflynnmp.typepad.com/my_weblog/2010/01/man-lover-thursdays.html


The elders said that if the Afghan Police returned they would join the Taliban. It was not just that the Afghan Police are endemically corrupt and live by stealing from the people they were are meant to serve. Their objection was to their use of bachabazi. This is the systematic imprisonment and rape of pre-pubescent boys. The elders showed the troops the compounds where the boys were imprisoned.

Now it has a different name. My contact explained that on Thursdays the Afghan Army round up local boys and take them to their camps. The boys are allocated according to the ranks of the soldiers. The justification is that women are for having babies, boys are for pleasure. Our soldiers have named the practise 'Man lover Thursdays.' The defence is that this is an essential part of the culture of Free Afghanistan. It's as natural as the use of heroin by 70% of the Army.

Monstrous as the Taliban are in much of their behaviour, they do not practise bachabazi. As the elders of Pankela said, the Taliban are cruel but they are men of principle.

AFAIK, the socialist government cracked down hard on these practices. They also put in measures to limit the sale of female children for marriage.


Decree number 6 in 1978 dealt with the issue of peasant debt. The PDPA ended the Gerow system and declared that peasants need not make any further interest payments on all lands mortgaged before 1974.

A literacy campaign was set up to create universal literacy in ten years. Education was made universal, compulsory, and free for all women and men. The syllabus was modernised and student brigades were sent in thousand to villages to educate people. The National Agency for the Campaign Against Illiteracy educated 6,000 army men in the first six months.”

Furthermore, landless peasants and labourers (All those owning less than 5 acres of land) were totally exempted from repayment of any debt. This act benefited an estimated 81% of the peasantry. The PDPA created Woleswali Committee and Provincial Committee to ensure that decree 6 would be implemented and not remain an empty promise.

On the 17th of October 1978 the PDPA declared Decree number 7 pertained to marriage laws. A minimum age of 16 for girls and 18 for boys was declared and consent of both partners in a marriage was made mandatory. Furthermore, a restriction of 300 Afghanis was placed on maehr (bride price). These laws curtailed the practice of treating women as commodities.

In January 1979 the PDPA declared and began to enforce a land ceiling of 15 acres. This dispossessed no more than 400 families but redistributed half the arable land of the country. One can see the enormous monopoly of power of the feudal lords that was shattered by the revolution.

Decree number 8 abolished the system of mirab (water manager who was a feudal lord) and water management was placed under the control of peasant committees. (Taimur Rahman, The Great Game for the Central Asian Oil (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.chowk.com/articles/6054), 2003)