In the article published with The Nation, we learn that boys are often kidnapped from families too poor to do anything about it. They’re traded, sold and used as sex slaves. And as these boys grow into men, they’re at the fringe of society, with no education or training to fall back on. No family to go home to in a culture where shame and honor are in many ways the primary religion.
"If we're there to tackle extremism, well raping a child is pretty extreme."
"What do you do when local authorities become the predators?"
"It becomes this huge political game where even our commanders, whether they wanted to do something about it or not, were unable to due to the politics. We have the issue of insider attacks and going out to kill one of these pedophiles from the local police units would have caused ripples in the alliance and possible lead to retaliatory attacks on US servicemembers. It's a fine line that lower level commanders had to walk; do the truly right thing, or try to bring home as many of their men alive as possible. There were a few times where I was standing face to face with someone who I was certain was guilty, but I was unable to do anything about it, and it hurts me to this day."
Resources:
http://nation.com.pk/international/26-Jun-2017/stolen-boys-life-after-sexual-slavery-in-afghanistan
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/08/20/army-kicking-out-decorated-green-beret-who-stood-up-for-afghan-rape-victim.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/21/world/asia/us-soldiers-told-to-ignore-afghan-allies-abuse-of-boys.html
Documentary: Dancing Boys of Afghanistan.
