Afghan President Vows to Crack Down on Abuse of Boys - nytimes

Addressing revulsion at the widespread sexual abuse of boys by powerful Afghan commanders, President Ashraf Ghani pledged on Wednesday that his government would do what it could to stamp out a practice that is pervasive among many wealthy and prominent men in his country.

Mr. Ghani was unambiguous in his condemnation of the practice, calling it “unacceptable” and saying that pedophiles would be prosecuted no matter who they were.

“Six-year-, 8-year-, 10-year-olds are raped, and I’m not going to tolerate this,” Mr. Ghani said from Kabul in an interview conducted by video conference. “To the extent to which the authority of the state can be harnessed to this task, we are going to focus on it and not permit it.”

That will be no easy feat. Though many Afghans find it repugnant, the sexual abuse of boys is so widespread that the practice even has a euphemistic name — bacha bazi, literally “boy play” — and is often ritualized in parties at which young boys are dressed as girls and forced to dance before they are raped.

The phenomenon has been well documented by human rights groups, journalists and others for years. But even more problematic for Mr. Ghani is that many of the perpetrators are commanders in the Afghan security forces, militia leaders or other powerful men who back the government. The Taliban, in contrast, banned the practice when they were in power.

Mr. Ghani said in the interview that he and General Campbell spoke about the issue on Monday, and that the Afghan government was forming a committee to investigate all allegations of child rape.

“We will take action, ranging from removing people from the security forces to introducing them to the courts,” Mr. Ghani said.  Mr. Ghani acknowledged that “the larger cultural dynamic needs time.”

He cast the child sexual abuse problem as one rooted far deeper than present-day Afghanistan. “Our Greek and Turkish heritage have generated periods of long practices,” he said. “Those require a large cultural-social dialogue that require purpose and energy.”

Alexander the Great conquered much of Afghanistan starting around 330 B.C., bringing with him ancient Greek cultural practices that died out in their homeland millenniums ago. And though the sexual abuse of boys was a feature of life in the Ottoman Empire, it faded in the 19th century and is no longer accepted in Turkey.

In Afghanistan, though, the rape of boys persists, and Mr. Ghani insisted, “I’m not going to tolerate this.” - Read More at nytimes

Ashraf Ghani, Afghan President, Vows to Crack Down on Abuse of Boys

Press Release - Read More at President

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