Free Republic

Apologists say that Bacha Bazi or 'Boy Play' is a very old cultural practice in Afghanistan and part of that nation's mainstream. Citing the Afghanistan strategy review, Vice President Joe Biden reported "great progress" in the counterterrorism effort that has significantly degraded al-Qaeda and the Taliban, particularly their leadership. Lagging behind, he said, is progress on the counterinsurgency front – eliminating terrorist safe havens in Pakistan and building a stable Afghan government. However, not once did Biden – nor Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- mention Afghanistan's dirty secret – a large number of pedophiles and pederasts among the Afghan male...

‘The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan’’ on PBS sounds like a heartwarming documentary, but unfortunately the lives of these juvenile entertainers is anything but. The “Frontline’’ investigation illuminates one more dark corner of that tragic country’s soul. Afghan journalist Najibullah Quraishi infiltrates the subculture of “bacha bazi’’ — literally, “boy play’’ — in which poor or orphaned Afghan boys become the possessions of powerful men. They dress as women and dance to entertain at all-male parties; later they are used sexually by their masters and other men. It’s “sexual slavery,’’ in the words of a United Nations official, a tradition so...