Sex Trade Thrives In Afghanistan

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/14/world/main4181549.shtml

Chinese Prostitutes Trafficked To Afghanistan To Cater To Foreigners

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 14, 2008

(AP) 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.

Now and then, a man and woman climb the stairs to the upper reaches of the house, where Paradise does its real business.

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 country.


An unidentified Afghan prostitute chats with one of her friends on a phone in her Madame's house in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, May 26, 2008. Afghanistan is one of the world's most conservative countries, yet its sex trade appears to be thriving. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy)


The International Organization for Migration helped 96 Chinese women who were deported in 2006. They told IOM they were deceived by a travel agency in China and promised employment in a restaurant for US$300 a month. But when they arrived, they said, the Chinese restaurant owner denied them salary and forced them to provide sexual services by night.

An IOM staffer said one Chinese woman thought she was going to work in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and had no idea she had instead landed in Kabul.

Afghan officials deny these claims.

"They come here of their own will. They want to do business here. Police caught them red-handed," said Gen. Ali Shah Paktiawal, head of Kabul's criminal investigations.


FULL story at link.