US General John Campbell denies there's a policy to ignore sexual abuse of Afghan boys

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US General denies there is a policy to ignore the sexual abuse of little boys in Afghanistan after a marine was gunned down by teen 'being kept as a sex slave by the local police chief'
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Gen. John F. Campbell said Tuesday there was never a policy for US forces to ignore the alleged sexual abuse of minors by Afghan officials
U.S. service members in Afghanistan allegedly instructed to ignore Afghan police officers and commanders abusing local minors
Campbell said he is 'absolutely confident' that never occurred
Marine Gregory Buckley was shot dead at an Afghan base by a local teen
Gunman granted access to base as an assistant to an Afghan police chief
It is claimed the chief sexually abused the teenager and other boys at base
The Marine's father says his son was told to turn blind eye to abuse at base and that was the reason his son was killed
Pentagon policy: sex crimes are condoned unless they are an act of war
White House admitted Obama is not calling for a review of the policy

By Dailymail.com Reporters and Associated Press Reporter

Published: 17:54 EST, 22 September 2015 | Updated: 18:56 EST, 22 September 2015

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The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Tuesday he expects U.S. personnel to report to military superiors any allegations of sexual abuse of boys by Afghan forces, after claims that soldiers are being told to 'turn a blind eye'.

The statement from Gen. John Campbell, who heads U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, came in response to reports that Afghan forces who worked with U.S. military personnel sexually assaulted locals boys and that U.S. troops were told to ignore suspicions of abuse because it was not the 'priority of the mission'.

According to the father of Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley Jr, 21 - who was gunned down on Helmland Province in 2012 by a 17-year-old Afghan 'tea boy' for local police chief Sarwar Jan - the alleged 'blind eye policy' was the reason his son was killed.

'As far as the young boys are concerned, the Marines are allowing (the abuse) to happen and so they're guilty by association,' Gregory Buckley Sr told the New York Times.

'They don't know our Marines are sick to their stomachs.'

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'I am absolutely confident that never occurred': Gen. John Campbell, who heads U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, on Tuesday denied allegations that American officers stationed in the area were instructed to ignore Afghan police officers and commanders abusing local minors

One officer, Dan Quinn, was discharged for beating up a commander who allegedly chained a boy to a bed, raped him multiple times, then beat up his mother when she tried to save her son.

Members of Congress complained about Quinn's discharge when it occurred in 2011.

However Campbell, in his statement, said he was confident there had never been a policy that U.S. troops were to ignore suspicions of abuse.

The general said he expects 'any suspicions of sexual abuse will be immediately reported to the chain of command, regardless of who the alleged perpetrators or victims are'.

Campbell said if the alleged abuse involves Afghans, the reports will be forwarded to him and to the staff judge advocate so that the Afghan government 'can be advised and requested to take action'.

Campbell said Ghani 'made it clear to me that the Afghan government will not tolerate the abuse of its children, or any of its people, and will thoroughly investigate all allegations and administer justice appropriately.'

The State Department, in its annual human rights reports, has consistently said that sexual abuse of children remains pervasive in Afghanistan.

Gregory Buckley Sr, left, who believes his son Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley Jr, right, believes the policy of turning a blind eye to sexual abuse was a factor in his son's death

Lance Corporal Buckley was gunned down in the gym at the Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Afghanistan's Helmand province in August 2012, by a 17-year-old Afghan

In its 2014 report, the State Department said that many child sexual abusers are not arrested, and 'there were reports security officials and those connected to the ANP (Afghan National Police) raped children with impunity.'

The New York Times reported that U.S. soldiers and Marines said they were told to look the other way when they suspected child sexual abuse by Afghan forces and in some cases were disciplined for trying to stop it.

Two other officers, Major Jason Brezler and Charles Martland, claim they are earmarked for forcible retirement because they flagged the issue of child sex abuse.

According to Pentagon policy, sexual abuse is deemed a local concern for the Afghan Local Police unless it is deemed to be an act of war.

'My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it's their culture,' Buckley Sr told the Times.

He claims it was the last thing they ever spoke about over the phone before his death.

'At night we can hear them screaming, but we're not allowed to do anything about it,' Buckley remembers him saying.

And now he is convinced that his son's killing may have occurred because of the alleged sexual abuse by the Afghan police chief, who was an ally to America.

Buckley Jr, from Long Island, New York, was one of three officers gunned down by Aynoddin a 17-year-old an Afghan 'tea boy' for local police chief Sarwar Jan - who had previously been reprimanded for child abduction.

Aynoddin was armed with an AK-47 and shot the officers while they worked out in the gym at Forward Operating Base Delhi, in Afghanistan's Helmand province on August 10, 2012.

It was later revealed that the teen may have been one of the sex slaves that Jan supposedly brought onto the base. He was not vetted and later talked about killing the soldiers in the name of Jihad.

Jan had been arrested by Afghan police in 2010 for child abduction and support for the Taliban, according to the Times. By 2012, he had been appointed police commander at Forward Operating Base Delhi. It is not clear how or if he was reprimanded and how he came to be appointed.

Lance Corporal Buckley was just 21 years old when he died. His funeral took place in his home of New York

Mr Buckley, centre, at his son's funeral. He claims his son told him in one of his final phone calls home, that officers said Marines were to 'look the other way' in regards to abuse because it is 'Afghan culture'

Before the attack, fellow Marine Major Jason Brezler, left, warned his comrades stationed overseas about police chief Sanwar Jan's, right, background in an email noting he was a child abuser

As he was drawing up the lawsuit last year, Buckley told Fox News: '[Aynoddin] shot my son point blank with an AK-47. Shot him four times in his chest and once in his neck.

'He was in the gym with a pair of shorts and a tank top on. How is that allowed?

'I want them to admit that they were wrong. And I want someone to be held responsible for my son's death.'

Before the attack, fellow Marine Major Jason Brezler warned his comrades stationed overseas about Jan's background in an email.

He reported that Jan was a noted child abuser and there were allegations he sexually abused minors on U.S. bases in the past.

However, Brezler was subsequently honorably discharged for sending the email from his personal, unsecured, Yahoo account.

It comes as another decorated soldier who had worked for the U.S. Army Special Forces for 11 years is being discharged after claims he stood up for a young rape victim and his beaten mother in Afghanistan.

Sergeant 1st Class Charles Martland, 33, was serving in the country's war-torn Kunduz Province in 2011 when he apparently learned an Afghan police commander he had trained had raped a boy.

He and his team leader, Daniel Quinn, confronted Officer Abdul Rahman - who had also allegedly beaten the 12-year-old's mother for reporting the sexual assault - and 'shoved him to the ground'.

U.S. Army Special Forces Sergeant 1st Class Charles Martland, who is being discharged over claims he stood up for a young rape victim and his beaten mother in Afghanistan

Despite Rahman walking away only bruised, Martland and Quinn were disciplined.

The Army reportedly halted their mission, put them in temporary jobs, and then, finally, sent them home.

Upon their return, Quinn quit the Army and is said to have secured a job on Wall Street.

However, Martland, from Massachusetts, launched a fight to remain a Green Beret.

But now, the dedicated soldier has been 'involuntary discharged' from the Army following a 'Qualitative Management Program' that was apparently carried out in February this year.

Buckley Sr's lawsuit accuses the Marine Corps, Department of Defense, the Navy, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service and former Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos of withholding the full truth surrounding his son's death.

Asked about the sexual assault of young Afghan boys, whether the current policy is under review and why US military personnel are being told turn a blind eye, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest read the following statement:

'The United States is deeply concerned about the safety and welfare of Afghan boys who may be exploited by members of the Afghan national security and defense forces. This form of sexual exploitation violates Afghan law and Afghanistan's international obligations.

'More broadly, protecting human rights, including by countering the exploitation of children, is a high priority for the US government. We monitor such atrocities closely and continually stood up for those who suffered exploitation and a denial of basic human freedoms.

'The United States works closely with the Afghan government, civil society and international organizations in Afghanistan to put an end to the exploitation of children, but also to incorporate human rights training into our law enforcement programs to heighten awareness in prosecution of such crimes.

'We continue to encourage the Afghan government and civil society to protect and support victims and their families, while also strongly encouraging justice and accountability under Afghan law for offenders.'

Asked if the president – the nation's Commander-in-Chief of the armed services - would tell a military leader to intervene if he sexual assault happening, Earnest declined to provide a direct answer.

'For the policies that sort of govern the relationship between US military personnel serving in Afghanistan and their Afghan counterparts, I'd refer you to the Department of Defense,' he said, adding that the statement he read aloud 'indicates just how seriously we take this issue and how this this kind of behavior.'

It 'doesn't just violate Afghan law, and Afghanistan's international obligations, but it certainly violates, I think, pretty much everybody's notion of what acceptable behavior is,' he said.

Pressed to explain the circumstances in which US military personnel would allow assault to happen on their watch, Earnest again dodged. 'For the rules of engagement and the kind of structure that's in place,' contact DOD, he said.

Asked point blank later in the briefing if the president is 'tolerating' sexual assault of women and children abroad and is 'acceding' to the policy that his military advisers at the Pentagon have established - not to intervene in crimes unless they are an act of war – Earnest deflected once again, invoking the Defense Department. He said he would not answer questions 'about a policy that governs the conduct of US military personnel in a dangerous place.'

He also said the president has not, to his knowledge, asked for a review of DOD's policies.