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Comment by umvi | Hacker News Reader

> if you are ever confused about how the Taliban won the hearts and minds of various groups within their country so quickly

How is it America's fault that Afghan police officers are child molesters? I'm sure if Americans had punished them, the Taliban could have PR spun that too to win the hearts and minds of the Afghans. Sounds to me that Afghanistan has big problems with its own citizens they need to figure out for themselves, and no amount of hand-holding by a powerful nation will help them out of the quagmire they are in.

Afghanistan wasn't like South Korea. The Afghans were not super eager for our help, didn't ask for it, and didn't seem super eager to fight along side us to purge an oppressive regime (unlike the South Koreans).

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> How is it America's fault that Afghan police officers are child molesters?

It's not just some police officers. Sexual abuse of young boys is a deeply ingrained feature of Afghan cultures, and the Taliban's revulsion at it was and remains a major motivation to fight:

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

I'm not saying this justified the war, and I generally agree with your comment, but we ought to be realistic about the depth of depravity we're dealing with over there.

It was common as early as Classical Greece, which went on to influence the whole Hellenic world (including what's today Afghanistan) and Ancient Rome as well. In fact, this kind of practice is even thought to be the underlying factor behind Paul of Tarsus' unreserved condemnation of Graeco-Roman sexual customs in the Christian New Testament.

Remind me again, why did the US deployed military in Afghanistan in the first place?

I read so much about it and I still have no clue.

Punishment for unwise choice of house guests and unwillingness to turn over said house guests.

I think it had something to do with this guy on CNN.[0]

[0]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orawG7vt68o

Well, a lot of people seems to think it was to protect human rights. I guess this is when it gets confusing when the military leaders ignore the human rights of those kids raped in the US bases...

We funded the child rapists. Gave child rapists guns. We had non child rapists around, but we gave arms and vehicles to child rapists which enabled them to take children and rape them. Then we ignored the fact that they were raping children.

Go try looking up a sex offender in your area and doing the same sort of stuff. You will be held accountable, trust me.

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