Bacha Bazi: how poor Afghani boys were raped.

[Anomalocaris]

I'm not exactly a geographical whiz, but I'm fairly sure Afghanistan isn't 'surrounded' by the USA.

Your contention, however, that the Taliban would not exist if it weren't for American funding is just plain dumb and stupid. That said, you make a fair point about American foreign policy (it could be better thought out).

Boru

actually, he is almost never right.  but in this instance he is.   Taliban was nurtured and sustained by the US because islamic fundamentalists were thought to be good communist fighters in Afghanistan during the soviet occupation.   The Reagan administration had a general policy of promoting sunni islamic fundamentalism in central asia because that was thought to create far more problems for the USSR than for the west.    Unfortunately the USSR exited the stage shortly after Reagan did, leaving the same Islamic fundamentalists looking for the next target that could be used to excuse the comprehensive failure of Islam in the modern world.