When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, they outlawed the perverted tradition of "bacha bazi," in which young boys are sexually abused by older men. However, it appears the insurgent group is now using the practice to its advantage, hiring young boys to infiltrate and carry out attacks on the Afghan police force.
According to a report on Yahoo! News, police officials have long taken part in bacha bazi, and it has steadily become a riskier form of entertainment. "The Taliban over nearly two years have used them [the boys hired for bacha bazi] to mount a wave of Trojan Horse attacks -- at least six between January and April alone -- that have killed hundreds of policemen," the reports states, quoting a security official who called bacha bazi the "biggest weakness of police forces."
Part of the difficulty with simply giving bacha bazi up to prevent further attacks is the fact that the practice has, for all intents and purposes, become socially acceptable. The Yahoo! report says:
Bacha bazi, which the US State Department has called a 'culturally sanctioned form of male rape,' peels away the masculine identity of boys in a society where the sexes are tightly segregated. In conservative areas women are mostly invisible in public -- and often unattainable due to steep bride prices. Bachas supplant the role of women, adopting a feminine gait and sometimes wearing makeup and bells on their feet. Many...see bacha bazi neither as pedophilia nor homosexuality, which is forbidden in Islam. If social norms had a pecking order, violating boys would be seen as far more ethical than violating women.
Clearly the abused boys would have some motive to seek vengeance on those who used them for such vile ends, Nevertheless, the Taliban has refused to take credit for the operations, having previously taken such a firm stance against the practice.
"We have a special mujahideen brigade for such operations -- all grown men with beards," a Taliban member is quoted as saying in the Yahoo! report. Of course, because only grown men with beards could be trusted with military maneuvers such as these.
Regardless, the Afghan police seem to be in a bit of a predicament. Bacha bazi is the reason for these attacks, but reportedly officers have threatened not to show up to work if they are not allowed to have a boy to violate. Being an optimist, I am hopeful the police can reform their ways rather than risk their lives and the lives of their colleagues over a sickening practice like bacha bazi.
Check out a video produced by RT about bacha bazi below: