The war on Afghanistan has been going for 16 years now, and shows no signs of slowing down. Already the longest war in U.S. history, it has been fought without much progress. Adding to the woes, it was recently revealed that American troops have been allowing the rape of children by the Afghanis – a practice known as "bacha bazi" in the country.

This was initially reported by a Pentagon inspector general, who claimed that several troops were told to ignore the rape of children by Afghanis. The Pentagon claimed that this was not a "formal guidance" from Pentagon brass, but recent behavior indicates that they have something to hide. The Pentagon is blocking a much more detailed report from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) about the question of child rape in Afghanistan.

"Senate officials, who requested the SIGAR inquiry in the first place, noted that the military was very opposed to having a second inquiry going separate from the internal inspector general probe. That's unsurprising, as the Pentagon tends to be unhappy with SIGAR's vocal criticism of the military's misdeeds," foreign policy analyst Jason Ditz