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Despite the flagging of this in last week's New York Times as an EXCLUSIVE and today's The Daily Beast as an EXCLUSIVE, this has been know for decades, as well as our military's tactic agreement of the practice.
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It is a practice over 100 years old - WHICH DOESN'T MEAN I APPROVE, but I do think the clutch your pearls response now is embarrassing.
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There was a (non-fiction) book out in 2007 which described the American's acceptance of the Afghani soldiers doing this (link), a documentary out in 2010 (link) and it was part of the Wikileaks expose. Hell, it was discussed in The Kite Runner.
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So for us to suddenly freak out is, frankly, disgusting to me. You can't close your eyes for over a decade and then suddenly pretend to be shocked. It is a vile and sick habit - that the Taliban actually outlawed and put people to death for.
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What is infuriating (aside from the practice and our toleration of it), is some of the letters in the New York Times. I do love this comment in the New York Times letters section:
Explain to me why we are in Afghanistan if not to protect the innocent.Protecting the innocent has NOTHING to do with why we are in Afghanistan. George W Bush wanted to clear out Afghanistan as a safe haven for Al Queda. The Taliban wouldn't kick them out, so we went in. President Bush actually told the Taliban that if they gave us Al Queda, we wouldn't support the civil war against them. It is critical to remember why we went to war, ruin a country, allow old men to rape young boys and young girls. It was not to protect the innocent.
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If you don't remember why you invaded, you can never "win". My 2cents - we should have declared victor and got the hell out of Dodge when Bush went all "Mission Accomplished".