The Daily Mail has claimed in a new report that the practice of “bacha bazi,” the sexual enslavement of young boys, persists in Afghanistan, with Taliban officials and local commanders among those implicated in the abuse. The report draws on victim testimonies and the historical record of the practice, noting that during the Taliban’s war against the previous government, the group deployed dozens of boys, particularly in Uruzgan province, to lure and assassinate police commanders. According to the report, this method succeeded in numerous documented cases in 2016, leaving dozens of soldiers and police officers dead. Victims of the practice, the report states, emerge from years of rape, violence, and abuse to face severe psychological and physical injury, addiction, poverty, and social exclusion. Girls in Afghanistan are described as equally vulnerable, with many sold into forced marriages by families driven to desperation by economic hardship.
Despite the Taliban’s stated ban on “bacha bazi,” the Daily Mail reports that the sexual abuse of young boys continues unabated. Taliban officials, local commanders, and other powerful figures are identified as active participants in the exploitation.
The report describes boys being forced into sexual slavery under the guise of the practice, made up with cosmetics and dressed in brightly colored women’s clothing, then paraded before gatherings of powerful men for dancing, before being sexually assaulted. For thousands of impoverished children across Afghanistan, the report states, “bacha bazi” is not a historical relic but a living, systematic form of sexual exploitation.
The practice has continued for centuries, the report notes, turning countless boys into sexual slaves. Survivors speak of beatings, rape, and psychological torture. Once they begin to grow facial hair, they are discarded as no longer desirable, with many turning to prostitution, drug addiction, or suicide, unable to escape the damage inflicted upon them.
Some boys face renewed violence when they return home. The Taliban’s rule, compounded by the suspension of much international aid, has left victims with severely limited access to support or rehabilitation services. The report further observes that all of this is taking place in a country where homosexuality can carry the death penalty and sodomy is reportedly punishable by lengthy prison terms, yet the practice continues to flourish even under a government that officially prohibits it.
Citing the most recent U.S. Department of State report on human trafficking, the Daily Mail notes that child recruitment, trafficking, and “bacha bazi” remain ongoing in Afghanistan. The State Department’s findings indicate that the Taliban recruit children through coercion and deception, including false promises, and that documented cases of “bacha bazi” implicate Taliban officials as well as other armed factions.
The Daily Mail traces the roots of “bacha bazi” to at least the 13th century, noting that the practice has been extensively documented by intellectuals, historians, and foreign and domestic officials who have traveled through the region. Its most notorious expansion, however, occurred during the Mujahideen war against the Soviet Union in the 1980s, when several jihadist commanders became known for keeping and exploiting young boys.
When the Taliban first seized power in the 1990s, they declared “bacha bazi” among their chief grievances against the warlords of the preceding era and outlawed the practice. Following the collapse of their first government in 2001, however, the practice continued. While some boys are said to enter these arrangements voluntarily, many are sold by impoverished families with no other means of survival.
The report references photographs and video footage circulated from “bacha bazi” gatherings, and cites a report by the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) produced under the previous government. That report stated: “Victims of bacha bazi suffer serious psychological trauma, as they are frequently subjected to rape. Such victims experience stress and a profound sense of distrust, hopelessness, and pessimism. Bacha bazi generates fear among children and fosters feelings of vengeance and hostility.”
Charu Lata Hogg, a researcher at Chatham House in London, told the Daily Mail that without dedicated treatment and rehabilitation services, the futures of these children remain deeply uncertain. Anecdotal evidence, she said, suggests that some victims go on to perpetuate the same cycle of abuse in adulthood. “We have heard informal reports that many of them keep boys when they grow up, which perpetuates the cycle of abuse,” she said.
Foreign forces in Afghanistan were well aware of the practice, the report states, but were frequently unable to intervene because many of the local commanders they relied on as allies were themselves involved. In some conservative religious circles, the report claims, “bacha bazi” is not regarded as objectionable.
The Daily Mail cites a 2009 assessment by the Human Terrain Team, a research unit supporting the U.S. Army, which found that prevailing Pashtun social norms do not classify “bacha bazi” as un-Islamic or homosexual. The assessment is quoted as stating: “If a man does not love the boy, the sexual act is not considered blameworthy and is seen as far more ethical than raping a woman. Furthermore, since men penetrate boys, the act is considered masculine rather than homosexual.”
The report recounts the case of Dan Quinn, a former U.S. Special Forces commander who was relieved of his post and removed from Afghanistan after physically confronting a local commander who kept a boy as a sexual slave. Quinn subsequently said that the United States had entered Afghanistan after hearing of the Taliban’s atrocities and human rights abuses, only to end up empowering individuals whose conduct was worse.
The Daily Mail also cites the father of Lance Corporal Gregory Buckley Jr., an American soldier killed in 2012. He said his son could hear the screams of boys being sexually abused by police from his military base in southern Afghanistan, and that U.S. troops had been ordered not to intervene. “My son said that his officers had told him to look the other way because it was their culture,” he told the New York Times.
Young boys sold to the Taliban by local tribes were used to infiltrate bases under the pretense of working as dancers and laborers. Once inside, the report states, they would poison or shoot the commanders who had assaulted them, incapacitate guards, and open gates for Taliban fighters waiting in ambush outside.
Dozens of soldiers and police were killed by this method over several months in 2016. In Uruzgan province, the tactic functioned as a highly effective “honey trap” for the Taliban.
Ghulam Sakhi Rogh Lewanai, who served as police commander in Uruzgan under the previous government, was quoted at the time as saying: “The Taliban have discovered the greatest weakness of the police and have sent around 100 beardless boys to infiltrate checkpoints and poison and kill police officers.”
The Daily Mail also references the documentary “The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan,” directed by journalist Najibullah Quraishi, which showed how easily powerful men gain access to these children. In the film, a man named Dastgir, described as a former member of the Northern Alliance and a figure of considerable influence in Takhar province, explained his process for selecting boys, citing their looks, age, and dancing ability. He told families he would provide care and financial support for the child. The Daily Mail reports that Dastgir claimed in the documentary to have “taken” more than two thousand boys.
Another individual in northern Afghanistan, identified only as “Mustari,” told the filmmakers that every military commander kept a young boy, and that there was open competition among commanders over them.
Dastgir is quoted directly: “He must be attractive and suitable for dancing, around 12 or 13 years old, and good-looking. I take a dancer to teach him to dance. We give money to the family and tell them I will take care of him. I buy him clothes and give him money. I pay for all his expenses. He does not need to worry about anything.”
The Daily Mail also cites a boy named Ahmad, who was around 17 years old in 2007 and told Reuters: “I love my master. I love dancing,d behaving like a woman, and playing with my owner. When I grow up, I will be an owner and have my own boys.” Once victims grow facial hair and are no longer considered desirable, the report notes, they are cast aside, with many drawn into drug use, begging, or prostitution.
Photographer Barat Ali Batoor, who spent months documenting these children’s lives for a Frontline documentary, described a boy of around 13 who was taken to parties and used heroin to endure his situation. The boy eventually fled and was found begging on the streets of Kabul.
Beyond psychological harm, victims of “bacha bazi” frequently suffer serious physical injuries, including internal bleeding, broken bones, broken teeth, suffocation, and, in some cases, death.
Girls in Afghanistan face a parallel form of exploitation. Millions, according to the report, are sold into forced marriages by families crushed by poverty, a practice that has become a routine response to economic desperation and is expected to grow worse as the country’s economic crisis deepens. The Taliban have intensified their campaign against women and girls, and earlier this month, formally codified child marriage in their new legislation.
Under the Taliban’s “Principles of Separation Between Spouses,” a virgin girl’s silence is interpreted as consent to marriage, while the same silence from a man or a previously married woman carries no such implication. The Taliban’s “Criminal Principles of the Courts,” the report states, has created a legal hierarchy that effectively places women on a level equivalent to that of slaves.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
طالبان و «بچهبازی»؛ دیلیمیل: این گروه به سوءاستفاده جنسی از کودکان ادامه میدهد
