COIN vs. A Culture of Kid Rape

Anyone believing that a "clear, hold, build" strategy is the key to a new democratic Afghanistan needs to watch this Frontline special on bacha bazi in Afghanistan.

Just for clarification, the ISAF mission is far more realistic than some of the expectations from civilian COINdinistas.

From ISAF's page:

ISAF, in support of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, conducts operations in Afghanistan to reduce the capability and will of the insurgency, support the growth in capacity and capability of the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), and facilitate improvements in governance and socio-economic development, in order to provide a secure environment for sustainable stability that is observable to the population.

I have no idea what that actually means but it is ambiguous enough that anything shy of a civil war can be defined as mission success.

Here is the full episode documenting the starting point in the uphill battle for social reform in Afghanistan.