The U.S. military showed little interest for years in investigating widespread sexual abuse of children by Afghan security forces it still funds and trains, says a report from the U.S. special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction. The scale of the problem remains unclear due to a lack of guidance on how to respond to suspected cases, a lack of training on how to report them, and in some cases reluctance to do so for fear of reprisals, said the special inspector general, The Guardian reports. “The full extent of child sexual assault committed by Afghan security forces may never be known,” the report said.
Two-thirds of the people and organisations interviewed for the report said they were aware of “child sexual assault incidents or related exploitation by Afghan security forces. The investigation was requested by 93 members of Congress, after the New York Times warned that child sex assault was “rampant” among Afghan forces. The practice should raise serious concerns about U.S. support, under legislation known as the Leahy Law. This bars U.S. military units from providing funds, training or other aid to foreign military units that are involved in serious human rights abuses. A technical provision – “the notwithstanding clause” – has allowed the Pentagon to keep a flow of training, equipment and other aid to units that have committed serious violations, if they are considered necessary for U.S. national security. That has effectively allowed funding authorities to ignore the Leahy Law, the report said, a practice it said Congress should consider ending.