Walt is paraphrasing a great line from The Man Who Would Be King, the **** movie starring Michael Caine and Sean Connery, about two British ex-soldiers who set out to be kings of Kafiristan. There actually is (or was) a Kafiristan, a.k.a. Waziristan, in the region where Afghanistan, Pakistan and India meet. You can look it up.
A point that is being overlooked in all the talk about honour killings is that the people who inhabit the armpit of the world are not like us.
"Afghanistan's dirty little secret", which appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle points out that for centuries, Afghan men have taken boys -- 9 to 15 years old or thereabouts -- as lovers. Some research suggests that half the Pashtun tribal members in Kandahar and other southern towns are bacha baz, the term for an older man with a boy lover. Literally it means "boy player."
The men like to boast about it. Afghans say pedophilia is most prevalent among Pashtun men in the south. The Pashtun are Afghanistan's most important tribe. For centuries, the nation's leaders have been Pashtun. Freely elected President Karzai is Pashtun, from a village near Kandahar, and he has six brothers. So the natural question arises: Has anyone in the Karzai family been bacha baz?
An American who worked in and around Karzai's palace in an official capacity for many months told the writer of the Chronicle piece that homosexual behavior "was rampant" among "soldiers and guys on the security detail. They talked about boys all the time."
My point -- and I do have one -- is that these people are not like us. When we allow 1000s upon 1000s of them to immigrate to our so-called civilized society, and expect them to adopt our values, we are deluding ourselves.
Footnote: Walt assumes there was a reason why the editors of the Chronicle thought this story would be of interest to their readers. Hey, it's San Francisco!
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