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Assalamu'alaikum
Kandahar comes out of the closet
FROM TIM REID IN KANDAHAR
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2001570030-2002020060,00.html
Our correspondent sees the gay capital of South Asia throw off strictures
of the Taleban
NOW that Taleban rule is over in Mullah Omars 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.
Kandahars Pashtuns have been notorious for their homosexuality for
centuries, particularly their fondness for naive young boys. Before the
Taleban arrived in 1994, the streets were filled with teenagers and their
sugar daddies, flaunting their relationship.
It 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
Taleban.
In the summer of 1994, a few months before the Taleban took control of the
city, two commanders confronted each other over a young boy whom they both
wanted to sodomise.
In the ensuing fight civilians were killed. Omars group freed the boy and
appeals began flooding in for Omar to help in other disputes.
By November, Omar and his Taleban were Kandahars new rulers. Despite the
Taleban 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 Mujahidin, 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
Kandahars new governor, Gul Agha Sherzai.
But in the later Mujahidin years, more and more soldiers would take boys
by force, and keep them for as long as they wished. But when the Taleban
came, they were very strict about the ban. Of course, it still happened
the Taleban could not enter every house but one could not see it.
But for the first time since the Taleban fled, in the past three days, 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-Taleban: 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 practised 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. One of the most valued presents is a fighting pigeon, which
can be worth up to $400 (277). These boys are nearly always innocent, but
such is the poverty here, they cannot refuse.
Once the boy falls into the mans clutches nearly always men 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 Taleban, Muhammad said. But
not any more.
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