No doubt they hate us for our freedoms (or something), but if I were an Afghan, this might just push me over the edge:
Prime among Atmar’s concerns was a party partially thrown by DynCorp for Afghan police recruits in Kunduz Province.
…according to the leaked cable, that money was flowing to drug dealers and pimps. Pimps of children, to be more precise. (The exact type of drug was never specified.)
Since this is Afghanistan, you probably already knew this wasn’t a kegger. Instead, this DynCorp soiree was a bacha bazi (“boy-play”) party, much like the ones uncovered earlier this year by Frontline.
If your skin isn’t already crawling, it will be now:
…bacha bazi is a pre-Islamic Afghan tradition that was banned by the Taliban. Bacha boys are eight- to 15-years-old. They put on make-up, tie bells to their feet and slip into scanty women’s clothing, and then, to the whine of a harmonium and wailing vocals, they dance seductively to smoky roomfuls of leering older men.
After the show is over, their services are auctioned off to the highest bidder, who will sometimes purchase a boy outright. And by services, we mean anal sex: The State Department has called bacha bazi a “widespread, culturally accepted form of male rape.” (While it may be culturally accepted, it violates both Sharia law and Afghan civil code.)
For Pashtuns in the South of Afghanistan, there is no shame in having a little boy lover; on the contrary, it is a matter of pride. Those who can afford the most attractive boy are the players in their world, the OG’s of places like Kandahar and Khost. On the Frontline video, ridiculously macho warrior guys brag about their young boyfriends utterly without shame.
Even the Taliban are disgusted by this. These police recruits–kiddie rapists–were the people we were (and are) counting on to help us bring light unto the heathen spread democracy stabilize Afghanistan. And if one of them gets in trouble, some U.S. infantryman or Marine will have to risk his or her life, possibly be injured or killed, for a kiddie rapist.
When this is what it takes to find allies, get out. Get out now. No U.S. soldier, no citizen should have to die for these guys.
Or we could just blame Wikileaks for releasing this (even though the information was already public).