“Human trafficking, slavery & sexual exploitation,” from Afghanistan War Victims’ Voices

Good afternoon, my name is Adam Zarnowski and I will be speaking about evidence of human trafficking, slavery, and sexual exploitation occurring in Afghanistan as well as to evidence of the fundamental nature of the Taliban as an organized crime syndicate. I have been investigating human trafficking and related crimes since I was sixteen years old. I am involved in anti-trafficking initiatives the world over, yet I have never before seen evidence of the kind of slavery which is occurring right now in Afghanistan under the rule of the Taliban. My remarks today are not to be taken as an expression of personal views but rather as a summary of the accumulated evidence. 

We have uncovered extensive evidence of widespread sex trafficking and forced prostitution in Afghanistan by the Taliban. Restrictions on women's right to move about freely greatly contribute to this underground sex trade, with widows and younger women being particularly affected. The situation in Kabul is now so bad that it appears comparable to what we saw happening in ISIS-controlled areas of Iraq and Syria. This is not particularly surprising considering that the Taliban and ISIS-K have begun working together in many parts of the country. Despite religious prohibitions on alcohol, women in brothels are frequently forced to drink and are drugged against their will while being violently raped – revealing how concerned the Taliban truly are about abiding by Islamic law. All too frequently, children are forced to work as sex slaves in these brothels. 

The Taliban, like any trafficker, utilizes trauma bonding to replenish their own ranks

When it comes to the sex trafficking of children, our evidence points to crimes by the Taliban that are particularly heinous. With special focus towards certain ethnic groups, both boys and girls as young as four years old are being targeted by the Taliban for the sex trade. Young boys are increasingly targeted for Bacha Bazi, or “boy play.” This is where the young male child is essentially made into a sex slave for the Taliban. However, this is not the end of the horror for these young men, as the Taliban, like any trafficker, utilizes trauma bonding to replenish their own ranks. When the boys become too old to sexually exploit, they are then forced to become child soldiers for the Taliban cartel or their allies across the border in Pakistan. Additionally, we have evidence of widespread kidnappings of Tajik and Hazara boys by the Taliban. These boys are then forcibly dressed in Taliban garb and insignia as child soldiers so that resistance forces target them, and are then marched to the front lines to reveal sniper positions upon being shot or to clear mine fields by detonating the explosives with their own bodies. The intent of these kidnappings appears not to be for tactical or strategic objectives, but rather to purposefully decimate the young male fighting population of these specific ethnic groups. 

[B]oys are forcibly dressed in Taliban garb and insignia as child soldiers so that resistance forces target them, and are then marched to the front lines to reveal sniper positions upon being shot or to clear mine fields by detonating the explosives with their own bodies.

At the same time, we have verified numerous eyewitness accounts that detail how young girls are similarly abducted, often at gunpoint, and forced to become sexual and domestic servants in homes and other residences. The severity of the sexual abuse has become so immense and widespread that families no longer allow their children to go to school out of fear of the Taliban raping their children. Now, since having seized power, the Taliban go door-to-door in cities and villages and toss houses, searching for any children that families might be hiding. If they find a young boy, they force him to serve in Bacha Bazi and eventually as a child soldier. If they find a virgin girl, they forcibly marry her to one of the Taliban present, claiming it to be an Islamic marriage. 

Women in Afghanistan are especially vulnerable to the crimes of the Taliban and can rarely even find protection among their own families. In January of this year, eight women were arrested in Mazar-e-Sharif by the Taliban who claimed that they were not being escorted by a male relative. The Taliban then proceeded to violently gang rape the women. Those who survived the gang rape at the hands of the Taliban criminals were then murdered by their own families in honor killings for having engaged in sex outside of marriage. 

Our research reveals that women and young girls also experience forced marriage at an alarming rate under the Taliban. Women are treated as little more than cattle, mere property for the settlement of debts and disputes. They may be bartered away to settle a debt, and men send their daughters and wives as payment to other men with whom they find themselves in civil or criminal disputes.  According to the World Health Organization, over 50% of married women in Afghanistan became married as children. As of this May however, counting only since the Taliban took power last August, nearly 120,000 girls have been sold as child brides, with girls as young as 20 days old being offered up as future brides. 

We have also uncovered numerous reports of organ harvesting from persecuted minority groups by the Taliban and other criminal networks inside Afghanistan. Many of the victims of these organ harvesting operations did not survive. With increasing famine, ordinary Afghans are increasingly selling their organs, especially their kidneys, simply to feed their families. 

It has been extensively documented that labor trafficking and debt bondage is common throughout the country and is a way of life for Afghan children. Per the International Organization for Migration, at least a quarter of Afghan children between ages 5 and 14 work in the dangerous roles found in brick kilns, carpet factories, salt and coal mines, metalsmiths and welding works, and more. Adult Afghan men are also similarly found in such horrific conditions. Over 50% of all children are laborers of some sort in Afghanistan, and many work more than 12 hours a day every day. 

The United States also explicitly prohibited its soldiers from rescuing or intervening on the behalf of the enslaved.

These abuses have been allowed to fester for a long time, having often been ignored by the international community and even the Afghan government when it was in power. In one case in Logar province, nearly 550 young boys were sexually abused and raped by teachers, principals, and other officials over a five-year period. When the victims came forward, the Afghan government threatened the victims into silence. Indeed, victims of both rape and Bacha Bazi are often charged as criminals and held in barbaric conditions in prison where they are frequently tortured. The United States also explicitly prohibited its soldiers from rescuing or intervening on the behalf of the enslaved. Many former US soldiers have recounted hearing the screams of children being raped from their barracks at night. Some brave soldiers who refused to look the other way, such as Green Beret Sergeant First Class Charles Martland, were court martialed and discharged from the armed forces they had so honorably served. By failing to address the human trafficking situation in Afghanistan, deeming it a “cultural matter” instead of one of organized crime, the world lost the “hearts and minds” of the Afghan population and allowed the Taliban to return to power. 

These trends affect and destabilize the entire region, not just Afghanistan. Moreover, the Taliban's trafficking operations are enabled and supported by those in Iran and Pakistan, which benefit from the cheap and abundant source of slave labor that Afghan refugees provide: Nearly 2.4 million Afghans, over a million of whom are undocumented, reside in Pakistan with over 3 million residing in Iran, where over 2.3 million are undocumented. We have evidence that young Afghan girls are trafficked and sold into Iran as brides, while Afghan boys are sold into slavery in both Iran and Pakistan as forced laborers. Afghan women are frequently abducted, raped, and then sex trafficked as prostitutes in Pakistan by the Taliban and their allies. The Taliban also facilitates sex trafficking in the region, with Iranian and Pakistani women frequently being sold into prostitution in Afghanistan, and Iranian women are frequently trafficked through Afghanistan to be sold into prostitution or forced marriage in Pakistan. Additionally, we have documented numerous cases of the rape of Afghan children by Iranian border and customs forces, who then turn the children over to the Taliban to be further exploited. 

All of this is occurring amidst a backdrop of crushing poverty and famine. Yet, this problem is set to get much worse if the world does not intervene: With a looming global food crisis brought about by Russia's blockade of Ukraine, over 19 million Afghans are facing the prospect of death by starvation – well over three times the number that perished in the Nazi Holocaust. 

The Taliban are richly funded from this trade in human beings, which is intricately related to the international drug trade that also finds its nexus in Afghanistan under their rule. Scores of Afghans are compelled by the Taliban to toil in the poppy fields and drug labs in forced labor.  Similarly, child soldiers that are conscripted by the Taliban are forced to become addicted to drugs to ensure their loyalty and serve as suicide bombers. Moreover, youth are frequently forced to serve as drug mules across borders and regions while their families are threatened or even held hostage. This results in the Taliban's single largest source of funding. 

Afghanistan is the world's leading source of opiates, including heroin, which the Taliban exports to its organized crime partners in Russia, Pakistan, and Iran alongside ever increasing amounts of amphetamines. From here, these substances are exported to all corners of the world – into southeast Asia, the Americas, Europe, and the United States, and consequently also fund the atrocities of the Mexican criminal cartels. Approximately three fourths of the world's opiates are produced in Afghanistan, killing thousands of our citizens every year. To put it simply, Taliban rule of Afghanistan is a global security threat that undermines the national security of countries the world over, no matter how far they lie from the steppes of Afghanistan. As mentioned previously, many Afghans are forced against their will to work in the poppy fields and production labs of the Taliban as little more than slaves, demonstrating how the issues of human trafficking and narcotics production are deeply intertwined. 

The evidence indicates that for the Taliban, this is all about power and control so that they can exploit and profit off of the people of Afghanistan. The individuals and groups that support the Taliban operate in the same manner and share the same goals. Religion appears to be a mere means to an end for them and the way they justify their crimes to themselves and to the world. This is more characteristic of the operation of an organized crime family than of a functioning government. Their inability to govern and provide for the people of Afghanistan only reinforces this parallel. Indeed, the Taliban place extortive fees on all exports, especially opiates, ores, minerals, and auto parts, and they demand a cut of all food or humanitarian aid being brought into the country. These are obviously not the actions of a legitimate government but are more like those of a crime syndicate. Simply put, the greatest mistake the world has made in dealing with the Taliban was in treating them as religiously motivated extremists instead of the greed-driven criminals that our evidence shows them to be. 

Thus, proper policy for dealing with the Taliban involves stronger action and policies not only against them but also their immediate business partners in Russia, Iran, and Pakistan as well. Actions should include travel restrictions to keep the criminals in their home countries, unable to spend their blood money abroad in our countries and in our financial institutions while also preventing them from fleeing the consequences of their actions at home. These organizations are, after all, merely smaller parts of a much larger, coordinated network of organized crime throughout the world. Indeed, it seems that the narcotics production, extortion rackets, and especially the human slave trade are key aspects that NATO failed to address during their 20-year adventure in Afghanistan, and are why the Taliban were able to return to power.

It is critical that we do not continue to treat the Taliban as a legitimate government, for they are not governing Afghanistan – instead we must treat them as the criminal robber barons that they are and work to bring them to justice. Central to this goal is stopping the human trafficking and sexual exploitation that is occurring and that has been allowed to continue unabated in Afghanistan. Likewise, diplomacy and negotiation will not work with the Taliban, who have refused to change their ways despite every opportunity afforded them. Civilized nations do not grant diplomatic status to the Sinoloa Cartel, the Russian Mob, or the Sicilian Mafia, yet they do the Taliban, and this exception must be ended. To this point, the International Criminal Court and all other relevant jurisdictions must formally and expediently investigate and indict the Taliban on charges of crimes against humanity. Only then will we be able to stop the genocide of the Afghan people. Thank you.