Okay, my brother told me about this when he got back from Afghanistan, but I didn't know it was this big of a problem. He said you would see a lot of this happening at night with night vision. This reminds me of the Catholic Church forcing Europe into the dark ages by suppressing learning and only allowing the priests to learn to read - Seems like the same thing, only this time with the Muslims in that area. For the record, my brother is gay and voted for Obama, and his thoughts were based on his own observations. He sent me this story today, because many people in the states didn't believe him. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...-sexual-identity-study-finds/?test=latestnews Afghan Men Struggle With Sexual Identity, Study Finds An unclassified study from a military research unit in southern Afghanistan details how homosexual behavior is unusually common among men in the large ethnic group known as Pashtuns -- though they seem to be in complete denial about it. As if U.S. troops and diplomats didn't have enough to worry about in trying to understand Afghan culture, a new report suggests an entire region in the country is coping with a sexual identity crisis. An unclassified study from a military research unit in southern Afghanistan details how homosexual behavior is unusually common among men in the large ethnic group known as Pashtuns -- though they seem to be in complete denial about it. The study, obtained by Fox News, found that Pashtun men commonly have sex with other men, admire other men physically, have sexual relationships with boys and shun women both socially and sexually -- yet they completely reject the label of "homosexual." The research was conducted as part of a longstanding effort to better understand Afghan culture and improve Western interaction with the local people. The research unit, which was attached to a Marine battalion in southern Afghanistan, acknowledged that the behavior of some Afghan men has left Western forces "frequently confused." The report details the bizarre interactions a U.S. Army medic and her colleagues had with Afghan men in the southern province of Kandahar. In one instance, a group of local male interpreters had contracted gonorrhea anally but refused to believe they could have contracted it sexually -- "because they were not homosexuals." Apparently, according to the report, Pashtun men interpret the Islamic prohibition on homosexuality to mean they cannot "love" another man -- but that doesn't mean they can't use men for "sexual gratification." The group of interpreters who had contracted gonorrhea joked in the camp that they actually got the disease by "mixing green and black tea." But since they refused to heed the medics' warnings, many of them re-contracted the disease after receiving treatment. The U.S. army medic also told members of the research unit that she and her colleagues had to explain to a local man how to get his wife pregnant. The report said: "When it was explained to him what was necessary, he reacted with disgust and asked, 'How could one feel desire to be with a woman, who God has made unclean, when one could be with a man, who is clean? Surely this must be wrong.'" The Pashtun populations are concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of the country. The Human Terrain Team that conducted the research is part of a military effort to learn more about local populations. The report also detailed a disturbing practice in which older "men of status" keep young boys on hand for sexual relationships. One of the country's favorite sayings, the report said, is "women are for children, boys are for pleasure." The report concluded that the widespread homosexual behavior stems from several factors, including the "severe segregation" of women in the society and the "prohibitive" cost of marriage. Though U.S. troops are commonly taught in training for Afghanistan that the "effeminate characteristics" of Pashtun men are "normal" and not an indicator of homosexuality, the report said U.S. forces should not "dismiss" the unique version of homosexuality that is actually practiced in the region "out of desire to avoid western discomfort." Otherwise, the report said, Westerners could "risk failing to comprehend an essential social force underlying Pashtun culture."
it is hilarious. like in Harold and Kumar when the homosexual inmate refuses to admit he's gay since he's the one doing the inserting instead of the other way around. one thing that is true about this article is the idea that our contemporary idea of of "homosexuality" is largely a specific political and social construct... the idea that a man must be either 1) gay or 2) straight and even the idea of a person basing a fundamental part of his self-identity on a specific preference for getting it in the ass as oppose to sticking it in a woman... history has many instances of homosexual behavior but what we think of as homosexuality is very much a particular modern and Western idea. for example, the Spartans and other Greeks famously practiced pedophilic pedastry between grown men and boys but at the same time, these men considered it their greatest duty to be married to a woman and produce sons for Sparta. The idea of the act of gay sex with other men was in no way contradictory to their other values, and did not play any large part in their self-identity or distinguish them from other Spartans who did not engage in that behavior. In fact, the idea of man love or men marrying men would seem the most abhorrent denial of their values and an unforgivable rejection of their duty and identity as citizens of sparta. our modern idea of homosexuality as a separate identity might be as abhorrent to them as it is to the most conservative Christian. if you're open minded, this story is funny but it's not absolutely necessary to mock something because it's so foreign to what we've been conditioned to believe. maybe they have a point. I actually dont know enough about thise ethnic group or their customs to say either way
Did somebody order the cockmeat sandwich? <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/lsOv9-NtuBU&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/lsOv9-NtuBU&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
it's not surprising given the isolation of women w/in their society, but rather sad given the taliban's treatment of homosexuals.
I am somewhat skeptical about this story as I find it hard to believe that adult Pashtun men wouldn't know how to impregnate a woman or that they would be in so much denial that they wouldn't recognize getting a venereal disease in the derriere is a consequence of anal sex.
I don't buy it either It has long been a . . .tactic to 'emasculate' the men of the enemy so . . . I think this is Fox News' perverted attempt at something similar Rocket River
I guess when you dress all your women like mummy babushka ninjas, you mind can really only develop sexual affinity for the male form.
Start letting the women walk around in western style clothes and watch a population explosion happen instead..... DD
I wouldn't have bought it either..but my brother told me a lot of this right after he got back from his time in Afghanistan. Most of his came directly from observations and from conversations with the people there.
note the date on the article. [rquoter]Kandahar Men Return to Original Love: Teenage Boys Sunday , January 27, 2002 By Tim Reid KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Now that Taliban rule is over in Mullah Omar's former southern stronghold, it is not only televisions, kites and razors which have begun to emerge. Visible again, too, are men with their ashna, or beloveds: young boys they have groomed for sex. Kandahar's Pashtuns have been notorious for their homosexuality for centuries, particularly their fondness for na�ve young boys. Before the Taliban arrived in 1994, the streets were filled with teenagers and their sugar daddies, flaunting their relationships. Kandahar is called the homosexual capital of south Asia. Such is the Pashtun obsession with sodomy � locals tell you that birds fly over the city using only one wing, the other covering their posterior � that the rape of young boys by warlords was one of the key factors in Mullah Omar mobilising the Taliban. In the summer of 1994, a few months before the Taliban took control of the city, two commanders confronted each other over a young boy whom they both wanted to sodomize. In the ensuing fight civilians were killed. Omar's group freed the boy and appeals began flooding in for Omar to help in other disputes. By November, Omar and his Taliban were Kandahar's new rulers. Despite the Taliban disdain for women, and the bizarre penchant of many for eyeliner, Omar immediately suppressed homosexuality. Men accused of sodomy faced the punishment of having a wall toppled on to them, usually resulting in death. In February 1998 three men sentenced to death for sodomy in Kandahar were taken to the base of a huge mud and brick wall, which was pushed over by tank. Two of them died, but one managed to survive. "In the days of the Mujahedeen [the pre-Taliban victors against the Communist government], there were men with their ashna everywhere, at every corner, in shops, on the streets, in hotels: it was completely open, a part of life," said Torjan, 38, one of the soldiers loyal to Kandahar's new governor, Gul Agha Sherzai. "But in the later Mujahedeen years, more and more soldiers would take boys by force, and keep them for as long as they wished," Torjan said. "But when the Taliban came, they were very strict about the ban. Of course, it still happened � the Taliban could not enter every house � but one could not see it." But for the first time since the Taliban fled, in the past few weeks, one can see the pairs returning: usually a heavily bearded man, seated next to, or walking with, a clean-shaven, fresh-faced youth. There appears to be no shame or furtiveness about them, although when approached, they refuse to talk to a Western journalist. "They are just emerging again," Torjan said. "The fighters too now have the boys in their barracks. This was brought to the attention of Gul Agha, who ordered the boys to be expelled, but it continues. The boys live with the fighters very openly. In a short time, and certainly within a year, it will be like pre-Taliban: they will be everywhere." This Pashtun tradition is even reflected in Pashtun poetry, odes written to the beauty and complexion of an ashna, but it is usually a terrible fate for the boys concerned. It is practiced at all levels of Pashtun society, but for the poorer men, having an ashna can raise his status. "When a man sees a boy he likes � the age they like is 15 or 16 � they will approach him in the street and start talking to him, offering him tea," said Muhammad Shah, a shop owner. "Sometimes they go looking in the football stadium, or in the cinema" (which has yet to reopen). "He then starts to give him presents, hashish, or a watch, a ring, or even a motorbike," Shah continued. "One of the most valued presents is a fighting pigeon, which can be worth up to $400. These boys are nearly always innocent, but such is the poverty here, they cannot refuse." Once the boy falls into the man's clutches � nearly always a man with a wife and family � he is marked for life, although the Kandaharis accept these relationships as part of their culture. When driven around, ashna sit in the front passenger seat. The back seat is simply for his friends. Even the parents of the boys know in their hearts the nature of the relationship, but will tell people that their son is working for the man. They, like everyone else, will know this is a lie. "They say birds flew with both wings with the Taliban," Muhammad said. "But not any more." [/rquoter]
What an odd punishment. I'd like to know how they came up with that. "So guys... what's an appropriate punishment for this whole sodomy issue.. Large fine? Hanging? Imprisonment? Oh, I know! Let's build a wall and then topple it over onto the bugger!" "SOUNDS GOOD TO US!" "Make it so."
Yeah, I'm wary for the same reasons. Usually, the metropole of an empire generates a lot of imagery that feminizes a colonized people. England did a lot of that when they had their massive empire.
and yet, there's a contemporaneous account, from 2002, followed by this more recent account in the OP, one on Fox, the other in the times. do you discount both?
Kinda difficult not to laugh at this lol. The idea is: if you're the do-er, you're not gay. If you're the do-ee, then you're gay. Good that this is being brought out, though I'm skeptical of the scope of the picture being painted in the article. It's usually rape in these cases, just that the children have come to accept that they'll be abused if they refuse and need the money as well.
