Whether True, False, or Mixed Up, Reports of Prostitution in Afghanistan Has Escalated: Is it Time for a Major Cleanup?
Posted by HCN on Wednesday, September 11, 2013
In at least a couple of major cities in Afghanistan, to include Kabul, more specifically of reference is the little area dubbed 'Paradise', has come to media attention, as having prostitution escalating to the extent that it is problematic beyond an ordinary situation of an outgrowth of economic challenges.
Coverage about problems in Afghanistan generally speaking, as of 2013, discuss the results of being war torn, whereat as in any country prolonged war, strife, and conflict has existed, prostitution might emerge, and the reports say that Afghanistan is no exception.
Prostitution is also described by those reports as having been comparatively more repressed during Taliban rule.
The situation in Afghanistan is not described for the most part as wanton, conspicuous trends of prostitution, rather low cover rendezvous, and run out of houses.
The situation has become more severe, and goes beyond war torn pressure and need to survive, now prostitution has been reported to involve importing women from other countries to service the industries there.
A story broke recently describing what they knew of a murder that involved some Chinese women. The story exposed prostitution dealings in the region, whether the two events have overlaps or not.
Prostitution is also described by those reports as having been comparatively more repressed during Taliban rule.
Coverage about problems in Afghanistan generally speaking, as of 2013, discuss the results of being war torn, whereat as in any country prolonged war, strife, and conflict has existed, prostitution might emerge, and the reports say that Afghanistan is no exception.
Prostitution is also described by those reports as having been comparatively more repressed during Taliban rule.
The situation in Afghanistan is not described for the most part as wanton, conspicuous trends of prostitution, rather low cover rendezvous, and run out of houses.
The situation has become more severe, and goes beyond war torn pressure and need to survive, now prostitution has been reported to involve importing women from other countries to service the industries there.
A story broke recently describing what they knew of a murder that involved some Chinese women. The story exposed prostitution dealings in the region, whether the two events have overlaps or not.
Prostitution is also described by those reports as having been comparatively more repressed during Taliban rule.
To provide some ideas of how scenes of prostitution are being portrayed, here are a few excerpts from a few articles, wherein, one might see that there seems to be a few missing links in some of them in regard to how society fabric is really put together:
Bodies of 3 Chinese Workers Found in a Kabul Apartment
By SHARIFULLAH SAHAK and AZAM AHMED
Published: August 9, 2013
KABUL, Afghanistan — Three Chinese workers were found dead under mysterious circumstances in an apartment in central Kabul on Friday, officials said, prompting the Chinese Embassy to urge the Afghan government to investigate to determine whether its citizens were specifically targeted.
...The head of criminal investigations for the Kabul police, Gen. Mohammad Zahir, said that the bodies were discovered Friday morning, but that it was unclear when they had been killed. He added that he believed that the women were prostitutes and that the deaths did not appear to be politically motivated. Two other Chinese living in the apartment are missing, he said.
... While Afghanistan is an ultraconservative Islamic country, prostitutes in the larger cities are not unheard-of. Brothels operate in hotels and within an informal network of residences, where prostitutes and clients are connected by cellphone. Often, women are put in touch with customers who meet them in residences and guesthouses, a method that has been far more difficult for the police to track.
The ethnic origins of prostitutes here vary. Some are Afghan, others are Chinese, and many arrive from the former Soviet countries to the north, like Uzbekistan.
Still, there was no evidence that the Chinese workers killed in the attack were involved in the sex trade...
Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/world/asia/three-chinese-workers-found-dead-in-kabul-apartment.html?_r=0
>>>
Mazar-I-Sharif Journal
An Afghan City’s Economic Success Extends to Its Sex Trade
Published: April 17, 2013
Among all of Mazar’s distinctions is a more dubious one. It is also Afghanistan’s unofficial capital of prostitution — so much so that “going to Mazar” has become a byword for Afghan men looking to pay for sex...
The flourishing of prostitution here casts a glaring light on the contradictions of the male-dominated Afghan society, where even the implication of immorality can mean death for women. The sex trade has existed in one form or another for decades, even under the ultraconservative rule of the Taliban. But officials here say the rapid spread of mobile technology has made the business easier to manage and harder to detect, allowing prostitution to expand...
Corruption is another factor that keeps business booming. Indeed, one of the interviews conducted with a prostitute for this article was coordinated by a police officer who is a client...
The business is conducted in the most secretive ways, and few are willing to talk publicly about it. Almost all of the women involved are driven to desperation by poverty. Prostitutes often wear all-concealing chadors, making it impossible to recognize them, and even the logistics of the business are shadowy. There are few, if any, actual brothels...
In their place, a decentralized network emerged. Women now host clients in a series of apartments across the city, or sometimes in their own homes, according to aid groups and women involved in the sex trade. The point of contact is typically a man who orchestrates the meet-ups by cellphone...
Full article as source found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/18/world/asia/mazar-i-sharifs-economic-success-extends-to-its-sex-trade.html?pagewanted=all
>>>
Tuesday 28 Feb 2012
Afghanistan's secret prostitutes
...A little later in the day they [the husband and wife pimp-prostitute team] will go out shopping. They will trudge through the snow to the bazaar close by. He, carrying their daughter. She, dutifully walking a couple of faces behind her man as tradition demands, and clad in the full blue burkha one sees so much in Kabul. Just another Afghan family. Outside they follow the customs, culture, traditions. Indoors in secret, they are all obliterated for money, but at huge cost.
Source: http://blogs.channel4.com/world-news-blog/afghanistans-secret-prostitutes/20572
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Chinese prostitutes work brothels in Afghan capital
Many say they were promised restaurant work but forced into Kabul's sex trade. The patrons are Western.
June 15, 2008
KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — A string of lights spells out the name of the bar in the back of the basement in capital letters: PARADISE. A dozen Chinese women in skintight miniskirts and halter tops flit around clusters of beefy Western men and flirt in broken English...
...Paradise is a brothel in an unmarked residential compound in an upscale Kabul neighborhood where prostitutes from China cater to Western men. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, thousands of Westerners working for security firms, companies and aid groups have poured into Afghanistan. Not long after came Chinese prostitutes, in some cases trafficked into the nation.
Source: http://articles.latimes.com/2008/jun/15/news/adfg-afghan15
