Letter to the Editor: Human rights violations by Afghan security forces

2 mins read

As many local residents are trooping down to Narrow Gauge to watch “The Post,” directed by Stephen Spielberg, may I suggest another direction we might take if we find ourselves with a moment of time and caring?

This direction has to do with the US involvement in Afghanistan, which even Trump had announced he would end, and about which we need to address our members of Congress. Not only does this war continue, now the longest in our national history, but new release of information (Think Pentagon Papers) has revealed that Pentagon funding has gone to Afghan security forces which have engaged in child sexual assault and other “gross violations of human rights”. Over 70 billion dollars of our tax monies have supported this.

While we cry #MeToo and focus on sexual harassment in this country, our military fosters horrors abroad. How about a call to Senator Collins or Senator King on this? And more letters to the local papers: perhaps they would like to rise to the status of The Post. We all need to speak up to make this issue huge. Congress needs to halt all appropriations to Afghan security forces until the Pentagon proves that no American tax dollars will fund human rights violations.

America’s failed war in Afghanistan just keep getting deeper. The Viet Nam war came to an end cue in part to public outcry. Be inspired by the film, and pick up the phone, or make a trip down to the Senators’ local offices.

Eileen Kreutz
Industry

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

14 Comments

  1. Ms. Kreutz, with all due respect, it’s not just the Afghan security forces committing human right violations in Afghanistan. I’m pretty sure the Taliban has/had one upped the Afghan security forces on gross violations of human rights, as did Hussein for that matter. I for one, am proud of the job our military did, and continues to do, in that country. I suppose we could withdraw out troops and send in the UN Peacekeeping forces, but considering the volatility of the country, I don’t think they’d last long.

  2. Obama didn’t end it either. It’s not sex you can’t just pull out and expect bad things to stop happening. If we pulled out now, it would be Vietnam all over again, only this time more people will die when the Taliban and Al Quida move back in. We could easily overrun Afghanistan but the Rules of Engagement prevent it.

  3. Yes, Afghanistan is a bi-partisan mistake, with blame spread to Bush, Cheney, Obama, Clinton, etc. Perhaps the hardest lesson for political leaders to learn is that while a military can win a war, it cannot shape the political outcome. The US won the 2003 Iraq war in three weeks. The US could not shape the political outcome (Iraq is now a close ally of Iran, and not pro-American). Afghanistan was won by early October 2001 – but again, the military cannot shape politics.

    I think now we should not worry about who to blame. It’s time we simply recognize that this was a mistake and disengage. Sure we could “overrun” Afghanistan – at high cost in lives and money – but what then? Would we be inspiring mass opposition against the “invading foreign power?”

    Thomas Brackett Reed was a Maine Republican Speaker of the House in the 1890s. He made his stand against imperialism, opposing McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt. He argued that the US would only weaken itself and its principles if it intervened abroad and became like the European powers. Reed lost that battle, but perhaps his ideas should be reconsidered.

  4. Terry
    February 1, 2018 • 11:00 am
    Ms. Kreutz, with all due respect, it’s not just the Afghan security forces committing human right violations in Afghanistan. I’m pretty sure the Taliban has/had one upped the Afghan security forces on gross violations of human rights, as did Hussein for that matter. I for one, am proud of the job our military did, and continues to do, in that country. I suppose we could withdraw out troops and send in the UN Peacekeeping forces, but considering the volatility of the country, I don’t think they’d last long.

    I’m not sure you have read or understand what the writer is referencing here, it’s the sexual abuse of boys on US bases by Afghan security soldiers whom are financed through our tax dollars.

    While I can be and am proud of our military personnel, I am not proud of the mission they were and are given in the Middle East. We’re not safer at home because our military is there, this is a fact from our own government in which they speak about “blowback”.

    Hrtlss Bstrd
    February 1, 2018 • 11:46 am
    Obama didn’t end it either. It’s not sex you can’t just pull out and expect bad things to stop happening. If we pulled out now, it would be Vietnam all over again, only this time more people will die when the Taliban and Al Quida move back in. We could easily overrun Afghanistan but the Rules of Engagement prevent it.

    But we wouldn’t be financing the “bad things”….

    Overrun it and then what? Turn it into Chicago Mid East? Give em democracy?

  5. Hrtlss Bstrd
    February 1, 2018 • 11:46 am
    Obama didn’t end it either. It’s not sex you can’t just pull out and expect bad things to stop happening. If we pulled out now, it would be Vietnam all over again, only this time more people will die when the Taliban and Al Quida move back in. We could easily overrun Afghanistan but the Rules of Engagement prevent it.

    You are aware that the taliban and al quida are two distinct and separate things right?

  6. The Taliban control about 10% of Afghanistan and are present in 70% of the country. There is really no chance they’ll be eliminated, no matter how long the Americans stay. The Afghan government controls about 57% of the country, down from 72% a few years ago. Al Qaeda probably has a few hundred members, they stay very secretive. ISIS is more visible, anywhere from 500 to 1000 members. The US has made it a priority to “kill terrorists” with the levels of bombings and attacks up dramatically. So far, this has not had much of an impact – it’s unclear if the people being targeted are truly terrorists, or if the attacks aid terrorist recruitment.

    I understand the concern about what happens when the US leaves, but at some point even those generally supportive of the conflict have to ask if continuing is in the US interest.

  7. Pure,

    I thoroughly understand the argument. My question to you would have to be whether or not we should shut down US bases because “some, but not all” Afghan soldiers are sexually abusing children? And really, if you want too discuss “blow back” shouldn’t we look at the “big picture?” Blow back is coming from every corner of the globe, every civil war, every terrorist group, every sovereign nation. The United States doesn’t have the monopoly on “blow back.”
    As for Mr. Erb and his reference to Speaker Reed. Kudos, at least the speaker took a stand. But I ask you this. Shall we build a wall? And if so, can that wall keep out those whom wish our nation harm? Or could they just fly planes over it….
    One last point. It has always amazed me when people think they can stop the atrocities of this world by holding up a piece of cardboard with the words “resist war” written in black magic marker. How’s that working out?

  8. The U.S. has never left any country we have entered. Scott has a point the military can’t change politics if it could we wouldn’t be where we are today.

  9. Pure, the Taliban was created by us. Quick history lesson for you. There is a group of people in Afghanistan called the Mujahideen, The CIA gave this group of people large sums of money to combat Russia in the 80s. when Russia withdrew it created a power vacuum. This caused the Mujahideen to break up into multiple factions. the largest of the splinter groups wanted the US to help them get the region under their control, we refused. That group became the Taliban and ruled Afghanistan until 2001 when Osama Bin Laden and his Al Quida moved in, these two groups are still there, we are fighting both groups. If we pulled out now, it would make things worse because we wouldn’t be there to sort of interfere with their plans and ease the pressure on local civilians who most certainly would pay the price in our absence.

  10. I have no quarrel with the letter writer that the war in Afghanistan is a failed one. That alone is reason enough to stop doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something good to come of it.

    However, the ‘sexual abuse’ being referred to is systemic in Afghanistan (and other Central Asian countries) and is nothing new.

    “A controversy arose after allegations surfaced that U.S. government forces in Afghanistan after the invasion of the country deliberately ignored bacha bazi. The U.S. military justified this by claiming the abuse was largely the responsibility of the “local Afghan government.”

    Bacha bazi has existed throughout history, and is currently reported in various parts of Afghanistan. Force and coercion are common, and security officials state they are unable to end such practices because many of the men involved in bacha bazi-related activities are powerful and well-armed warlords.

    During the Afghan Civil War (1996–2001), bacha bazi officially carried the death penalty under Taliban law. The practice of dancing boys is illegal under Afghan law, being against Islam, but the laws are seldom enforced against powerful offenders and police have reportedly been complicit in related crimes.

    In 2015, The New York Times reported that U.S. soldiers serving in Afghanistan were instructed by their commanders to ignore child sexual abuse being carried out by Afghan security forces, except “when rape is being used as a weapon of war.” American soldiers 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. But the U.S. soldiers have been increasingly troubled that instead of weeding out pedophiles, the U.S. military was arming them against the Taliban and placing them as the police commanders of villages—and doing little when they began abusing children.

    According to a report published in June 2017 by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, the US military reported 5,753 cases of “gross human rights abuses” by Afghan forces, many of which relating to sexual abuse. According to The New York Times, discussing that report, American law required military aid to be cut off to the offending unit, but that never happened. An American Special Forces officer, Capt. Dan Quinn, was relieved of his command and pulled from Afghanistan after fighting with an Afghan militia commander for keeping a boy as a sex slave.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_bazi

  11. Terry
    February 1, 2018 • 4:20 pm
    Pure,

    I thoroughly understand the argument. My question to you would have to be whether or not we should shut down US bases because “some, but not all” Afghan soldiers are sexually abusing children? And really, if you want too discuss “blow back” shouldn’t we look at the “big picture?” Blow back is coming from every corner of the globe, every civil war, every terrorist group, every sovereign nation. The United States doesn’t have the monopoly on “blow back.”

    One last point. It has always amazed me when people think they can stop the atrocities of this world by holding up a piece of cardboard with the words “resist war” written in black magic marker. How’s that working out?

    I never said others don’t create blowback, but I honestly don’t care what abuses Russia or any other country does that creates problems for them. I am only speaking to US policy making every American less safe.

    How about resist instigation? Or resist imperialism? We have involved ourselves in conflict after conflict since WW2, which we were warned would happen!

    This is Eisenhower’s speech from 1/7/1961 this clip is only 2 min long.
    https://youtu.be/8y06NSBBRtY

    Hrtlss Bstrd
    February 1, 2018 • 11:46 pm
    Pure, the Taliban was created by us. Quick history lesson for you. There is a group of people in Afghanistan called the Mujahideen, The CIA gave this group of people large sums of money to combat Russia in the 80s. when Russia withdrew it created a power vacuum. This caused the Mujahideen to break up into multiple factions. the largest of the splinter groups wanted the US to help them get the region under their control, we refused. That group became the Taliban and ruled Afghanistan until 2001 when Osama Bin Laden and his Al Quida moved in, these two groups are still there, we are fighting both groups. If we pulled out now, it would make things worse because we wouldn’t be there to sort of interfere with their plans and ease the pressure on local civilians who most certainly would pay the price in our absence.

    Ahh, 2001 and before….the good old days before dirt cheap heroin all over our country.

    The civilians? Really? Do You actually believe that there is some majority of ordinary citizens in Afghanistan who want us there? Want another country ruling over them?

    I love this country and would fight to my dying breath to defend her, what we’re doing in the Middle East and particularly Afghanistan is not defending our country.

  12. Jesse – well, we left Vietnam, and mostly left Iraq. I think about 5000 are left there, mostly advisory.

    Hrtls – You’re right that we armed the Mujaheddin and those elements ultimately became the Taliban. The problem was that the US funneled aid via Pakistan. The Pakistanis really created the Taliban to insure a friendly regime would take over once the Soviet backed government fell. Ethnic groups in the north got very little US aid since Pakistan didn’t trust them. Then Pakistan helped the Taliban beat the so-called ‘northern alliance’ to gain about 90% of the country by 1995. So a key for the US is the role of Pakistan. I understand your concerns about leaving but…what if it’s not a problem we can solve? What if the Taliban and al qaeda will be there 20 years from now in any event? Maybe this beyond what the US is willing to do.

    Pure is right – this isn’t defense of the US. In fact, we probably make ourselves more of a target when we’re involved in global conflict. Hrtless does have a valid humanitarian argument about the cost of leaving – but it could be that the cost of staying is even higher. Afghanistan, the killer of empires….

  13. Yes Scott most of the troops get pulled out but the presence is there forever. Bases aren’t abandoned completely, we still are present in some manner.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.