Indentured servitude: it's why America can morally leave Afghanistan

Although wise Democrats might argue that we simply cannot abandon the Afghan people, take a look at what these Afghan people are doing to each other. As these indentured servants toil making bricks, our armies do nothing to end this slavery. America CAN leave these slave owners to their own devices instead of protecting them.


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/16/world/asia/16kiln.html?pagewanted=all

In Afghan Kilns, a Cycle of Debt and Servitude

WATA POOR, Afghanistan — The labor boss stood looking down at a man and his four sons squatting in the dirt, the boys mechanically rolling and slapping mud as they made line after line of dull gray bricks.

“See, there’s a sad story,” the boss, Gul Bacha, said as he pointed to the oldest son, Nick Muhammad, 18.

He said the young man had twice escaped to join the Afghan Army, but when his father needed another loan from Mr. Bacha, the boss forced him to bring his son back to work.

“His father came to me asking to borrow more money,” Mr. Bacha said. “I told him: ‘No. You must bring your son back here. Or else bring me the money you owe me and leave the house I have provided you.’ ”

The young Mr. Muhammad listened impassively to the tale of his unhappy return to the kiln in Nangarhar Province.

“I was 7 years old when I started this work,” he said later, when the boss was gone. “My family owed 10,000 rupees then. Today, we owe 150,000 rupees.”

The Muhammads are indentured servants, bought and paid for by Gul Bacha, who purchased their contracts from a kiln owner in Pakistan, where they had been living as refugees. Like tens of thousands of Afghans, the Muhammads are trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of poverty that keeps them indebted to their employers — a situation common at many of the dusty brick kilns that dot the countryside, as well as in some other industries, particularly in rural areas.

here and have practically lobbied for it, via onerous bankruptcy laws and unpayable student loans, I'm sure they don't see a problem.

...And the scientology banner ad flashing over this just adds icing to the cake, since they're under investigation by the FBI for similar slave labor practices amongst the sea org people they bring here from other countries.