This New York Times story is heartbreaking. American servicemen have been and are being punished because they wouldn’t turn a blind eye to child sexual abuse by our purported allies in Afghanistan:
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. …
… the American policy of treating child sexual abuse as a cultural issue has often alienated the villages whose children are being preyed upon. The pitfalls of the policy emerged clearly as American Special Forces soldiers began to form Afghan Local Police militias to hold villages that American forces had retaken from the Taliban in 2010 and 2011.
It isn’t clear from the piece exactly when this policy of “cultural sensitivity” toward child abuse began. But it really has to stop now. It is obviously evil, and it is also counterproductive. As the father of a slain Marine points out, it undermines Afghans’ perception of Americans as friends and allies. How can any military intervention be worth the cost if this is the sort of cultural sensitivity we show in foreign countries as a matter of government policy?
