The White House dodged questions Monday about allegations that U.S. military officials are ordering U.S. soldiers to ignore child abuse in Afghanistan committed by Afghan militia, military and police, and instead indicated that those orders reflect Defense Department policy that the White House is not reviewing.
“For the rules of engagement and the kind of structure that’s in place to guide the relationship between the United States and Afghan members of the military, I’d refer you to the Department of Defense for that,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.
Earnest was pressed further to say whether President Obama is looking to review that policy in light of a New York Times story outlining how soldiers were powerless to help child rape victims in Afghanistan, and got in trouble with their superiors if they tried. To that, Earnest said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
When asked why questions about preventing child abuse and protecting human rights was being punted to the Pentagon, Earnest said, “Because … you’re asking about a policy that governs the conduct of U.S. military personnel in a dangerous place.”
The Times story outlined several examples in which U.S. soldiers could hear child rape as it occurred, but were told to ignore these events because it’s part of Afghanistan’s “culture.”
To that, Earnest said the U.S. is urging Afghanistan’s leaders to crack down on the commonly accepted practice of allowing adult men to rape boys.
“We continue to urge the Afghan and civil society to protect and support victims and their families, while also strongly encouraging justice and accountability under Afghan law for offenders,” Earnest said.
At the Pentagon, spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said there is no policy that prohibits U.S. troops from reporting human rights violations like the ones described in the New York Times article to their chain of command, but that any allegations would be dealt with by local Afghan officials.
“What’s talked about in this, while abhorrent, is fundamentally an Afghan law enforcement matter and those are reports that are given to the Afghan government,” Davis said.
Davis had no information on the specific case mentioned in the article of a U.S. service member being reprimanded for beating up an Afghan commander who had a child sex slave chained to his bed.
Jacqueline Klimas contributed to this story.
