October 14, 2013
I expected this to get more news, but it appears no one picked it up:
Taliban molestation of boys, once rarely discussed in Afghanistan and Pakistan, is now becoming a more common topic of conversation.
Nematullah, a former would-be suicide bomber, told Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) that young men, including himself, endured sexual abuse by their trainers, according to a September 23 NDS statement.
Militant leader Mullah Ahmad (aka Mullah Akhtar), who trained the young man to carry out a suicide attack on his motorcycle in Adraskan District of Herat Province in September, also sexually abused him, Nematullah said.
Police foiled Nematullah’s attempted attack and informed NDS officials about his plot and the sexual victimisation of boys by the Taliban. Mullahs Nasim and Akhtar drugged several bombers-in-training to the point where they passed out and repeatedly abused them while they were unconscious, Nematullah said.
This is yet another instance of child rape against Afghan boys that the international community has ignored. I previously wrote about the dancing boys, boys forced to dress like women and dance at parties for Afghan warlords who then rape the boys afterwards.
Many of those boys were kidnapped or sold into slavery by their families. It appears the same thing happens with boys used as suicide bombers:
The militants often kidnap impoverished boys who are susceptible to being preyed upon, Khalid Khan, a special branch police officer, told Central Asia Online, noting that several boys who escaped Taliban training centres in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) told investigators that they were abused and that their parents could not do anything.
It is unlikely that forces stationed in Afghanistan know nothing about this. A Canadian soldier complained to his superiors about Afghan soldiers and warlords raping boys, but no one listened to him. The Obama administration changed the Army handbook, telling troops not to criticize Afghan practices, which included any criticism of pedophilia.
I cannot help but wonder if these problems would garner more attention if the victims were girls. None of these boys and young men will grace the cover of Time magazine. None of them will be offered a Nobel Peace Prize. Instead, they will suffer in silence, be shot by Coalition forces, or blown up in a suicide attack.
We spend billions of dollars helping Afghan girls learn to read, but we cannot spend a dime to prevent their brothers from being raped and killed.
Toy Soldiers 
I wonder if that treatment is used as some sort of “motivation” for those raised to be suicide bombers. Often times suicide bombers are portrayed as believing in their causes to the point that they think blowing themselves up will take them to a good afterlife.
Could it be that after being raped and otherwise mistreated the bombers see the suicide as a way out from the abuse?
Maybe the abusers commit the abuser as a way to get them to focus on how “good” it would be to give up their life for the cause?
It is possible, although it would be easier for them to kill themselves in a less violent manner.
I think it is more likely that the Taliban rape the boys as a method for controlling them. Homosexuality is extremely taboo in the Middle East. Any suggestion of homosexuality, even rape, puts the victim at risk. For example, the actor who portrayed the boy who is raped in The Kite Runner received death threats for that portrayal. That level of social disgust would prevent the boys from coming forward. A smart abuser would use this to their advantage by telling the boys that committing suicide would cleanse them in Allah’s eyes. Likewise, that abuser could also use the threat of rape to keep the boys silents and in fear. It would make perfect triple bind: the boys cannot come forward because no one would support them, they cannot come forward because they face Taliban reprisal, and they cannot come forward because they would give up their chance at redemption.
Haven’t heard of The Kite Runner. I’ll have to check it.
Yeah, The Kite Runner is good but harrowing. Haven’t seen all of the movie adaption, though.
But I don’t support the author since his views are firmly entrenched in gynocentric thinking.
I think it is more likely that the Taliban rape the boys as a method for controlling them. Homosexuality is extremely taboo in the Middle East. Any suggestion of homosexuality, even rape, puts the victim at risk. For example, the actor who portrayed the boy who is raped in The Kite Runner received death threats for that portrayal. That level of social disgust would prevent the boys from coming forward. A smart abuser would use this to their advantage by telling the boys that committing suicide would cleanse them in Allah’s eyes. Likewise, that abuser could also use the threat of rape to keep the boys silents and in fear. It would make perfect triple bind: the boys cannot come forward because no one would support them, they cannot come forward because they face Taliban reprisal, and they cannot come forward because they would give up their chance at redemption.
Very good points.
The kite runner is a brilliant book.
“I cannot help but wonder if these problems would garner more attention if the victims were girls.”
You still have to wonder about this? If the victims were girls all they would have to do is feel harassed and there would be world-wide outrage.
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