Original entry from 13 April 2010: ‘Bacha bazi is an old Afghan tradition of taking young boys, dressing them up like girls, and making them perform for older men in tea rooms, weddings, and other private venues. The boys are “owned” by single or married men who trade or keep the boys as concubines… the age-old ritual of man-boy predatory sex, which is obliquely condoned throughout Afghanistan because of a pervasive fear or indifference about prosecuting it on any serious level… has proliferated after decades of poverty, corruption, and a lack of enduring social institutions… poor families sell their children, and orphans are snatched off the street. They are the meekest, preyed upon by the strongest – the kind of wealthy, powerful men who have benefited most from the Western occupation and generous foreign aid.’
– ‘The Rape of the Afghan Boys‘ by Kelley B. Vlahos, antiwar.com April 13, 2010.
Update 3 December 2010: It is now revealed through a leaked embassy cable that DynCorp, an American private security firm, paid for such ‘dancing boys’. See the article in the Guardian.
Update 8 December 2010:
Guardian: ‘US embassy cables: Afghan government asks US to quash ‘dancing boys’ scandal‘.
Houston Press: ‘WikiLeaks: Texas Company Helped Pimp Little Boys To Stoned Afghan Cops‘.