Afghan police accused of corruption and child abuse
BBC News
Most police forces investigate crimes like corruption, kidnapping, drug use, murder and child abuse. But in Sangin - the most violent district in Afghanistan - these are crimes that some of the police commit.
When they did go out, what the marines saw was far from encouraging. At one checkpoint, the Afghan police were openly smoking marijuana. Two other police officers, assigned to fill sandbags to fortify a watchtower, were high on something stronger - probably opium or heroin. When one of the police commanders was shot, three weeks after I left, the American medics who saved him found a bag of heroin in his pocket.
But there are issues Major Steuber said need to be tackled head-on - including the sexual abuse of young boys by local police commanders. On every police base I visited in Sangin, there were young boys: some were armed, and some looked like servants. They are known as "chai boys".
Sangin Deputy Police Chief Qhattab Khan admitted this abuse is taking place, and promised to take action. He told Major Steuber: "The kids themselves want to stay at the patrol bases and give their bodies at night… There is no humanity. There is no military command".
This is what we are spending American lives and treasure on. Drug addicted, mobsters with a taste for little boys more blatant than the Catholic Church. Young boys they murder if they try to escape. This is what George Bush, and yes, Barack Obama have made us accessories to.
And before I get any grief from Obama apologists, answer me one question: Would YOU support a regime that did this? If your answer is "yes', then, by all means, scream away at me.
We may not be able to stop this kind of thing from happening, but we sure as Hell should not be facilitating it.