Under Taliban control, an estimated 6,000 female and 4,000 male sex workers worked in just the city of Kabul, not to mention the rest of the country of Afghanistan. The number of male sex workers may seem high, but Afghanistan has a long history of abusing young boys, called Bacha Bazi as well as in Pakistan or dancing boys. Underage boys are dressed up as girls and sold to the highest bidder to keep as concubines. Once the Taliban came into power, the number of Bacha Bazi grew as did the Taliban appetite for them. The commanders of the Taliban were kidnapping teenage boys for the purpose of sexual gratification at militant camps throughout regional Afghanistan as well as Pakistan where the migration of Afghans began running from the war. After the boys were sexually humiliated, they were then sent to partake in terrorist attacks throughout the country. The majority of victims were born into dire poverty and either sold by their parents who couldn’t afford to raise them or abducted by the Taliban.

The decades of war in Afghanistan has left generations of uneducated, impoverished and unemployed Afghans who have now fled to Pakistan. Families left without work and unable to provide for their children are forced to sell their sons and those unable to find legitimate work, procure children for the black market. After years of instability under the Taliban rule and almost a decade of war, the people of Afghanistan are faced with a country lacking the infrastructure to protect the young women and men from sex trafficking.