Modern Day Child Prostitution in Kabul, Afghanistan: Children are used as Sex Workers in Afghanistan to Serve Foreigners
An eyewitness piece: Modern Day Child Prostitution in Kabul, Afghanistan: Children are used as Sex Workers in Afghanistan to Serve Foreigners.
“The police told my mother that she will not receive my father’s retirement check for working at the Ministry of Agriculture unless I work as a prostitute serving foreigners. My mother at first refused but she relented once the police told her that I would be able to keep 60% of the pay and be able to keep supporting my mom and 6 brothers and sisters and the other 40% would go to the police,” says Ara.
12-year-old girl named Ara Atta says, “My father was killed by the Americans because he did not stop his car at a checkpoint.
(KABUL) - When we hear about the news in Afghanistan, the mainstream
media tells us stories of explosions and deaths of military personnel
and civilians. A story that is not being told is of child prostitution
slavery in Afghanistan.
“There
is a police operation going on by a neighborhood police chief in Kabul
that has girls working for him,” says German contractor Hans, who does
not want to release his last name for security reasons.
“You
know prostitution is legal in Germany and I don’t mind paying a fair
price for a sex worker, but here in Afghanistan the prostitutes are
children, teenagers and that is where I draw the line. I have a
14-year-old daughter back home in Germany and I do not condone child
prostitution,” says Hans.
A
15-year-old named Badria Durrani says, “I was forced into prostitution
because the police in the area said they will arrest my father. My
father is just a baker and he does not want any trouble with the police,
so I work as a prostitute having sex with foreigners because that is
what the police want me to do.”
Badria’s
father Mohammed Durrani says “I did not agree, but the police threaten
to throw me in jail, so I agreed because I have to support my 3 wives
and 8 children as a baker. With the extra income my daughter makes
after she pays the police their 40% share, the rest of the money is for
our family.”
“Also, the police
told me not to worry. My daughter will only serve foreigners so Afghan
men will not know that she is a prostitute and later she will be able to
find an Afghan husband for marriage,” says Mohammed.
“I
don’t want to do this anymore but what choice do I have? If I run away
my father will be thrown in jail and then our family does not have money
to pay for rent and will be kicked out of our home. I have to sacrifice
my life for our family. I hate this government and these foreigners
that come here to have sex with girls my age, but the government here is
not protecting us. They send these police from the north of Afghanistan
to take advantage of us,” says Badria.
A
12-year-old girl named Ara Atta says, “My father was killed by the
Americans because he did not stop his car at a checkpoint, trying to
take my mother to the hospital because she was going into labor. The
Americans shot at the car and killed my father but my mother was not
harmed and taken to the hospital and my brother Ibrahim was born.”
“The
police told my mother that she will not receive my father’s retirement
check for working at the Ministry of Agriculture unless I work as a
prostitute serving foreigners. My mother at first refused but she
relented once the police told her that I would be able to keep 60% of
the pay and be able to keep supporting my mom and 6 brothers and sisters
and the other 40% would go to the police,” says Ara.
Ara
further stated, “I don’t want to do this but we have no choice. If I
run away, the police will ensure that we will not receive my father’s
retirement check. I curse them and the foreigners that are using my body
for sex but I have to do this or my mother and siblings will go hungry
and we will be out in the street because we don’t have money for rent.”
The
invasion of Afghanistan by the United States and International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) offered the Afghan people democracy and social
changes for women through education and new careers that were closed to
them under the Taliban.
What
has actually happened here in Afghanistan is that the government
institutions that were established by the U.S. and ISAF, such as the
Afghan Police, are using female children and women for profit to serve
foreigners as their sex slaves.
______________________________________________________
A
highly decorated Iraq War Veteran, Captain James Van Thach served
twenty-four straight months in Iraq, despite being wounded twice during
his first year, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart. Also, the
government of Iraq awarded him the rank of Honorary Staff Brigadier
General in the Iraqi Army.
Standing
in Captain Thach’s presence you notice instantly an aurora about this
young man and admire the goals he set forth in his life through
education in the United States and travel overseas in his fight in war
torn Iraq.
Why would an
educated Law School graduate of Touro Law Center turn down numerous
private sector job offers with a very generous salary or a safer career
path as an Attorney with the United States Army Judge Advocate General
(JAG) and only to choose a dangerous job as an Infantry Officer in
active combat as a Military Advisor in Iraq?
Captain
James Van Thach answered in a commanding voice, “My sacrifice had to be
made because of the opportunities given to me from the men and women
who sacrificed their lives and died for our country. I had to do the
same in their honor, to protect our nation and protect the unborn of
this country so that they might live in a peaceful world.”
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