I think he's alluding to the fact that if you claim you are homosexual in Afghanistan (or any of those nations around it), you'll likely be put to death. Ironically, those putting you to death are probably sleeping with each other, but since they don't consider themselves "gay", then they aren't gay. Kinda like that whole "I have a wife and kids, just because Ahmed and I have sex doesn't mean I'm gay" thing. The young boy fetish truly is a disturbing part of that culture and it's pretty rampant over there.

I'm still wondering why we are there. We went there in 2001 to kick the Taliban's a$$ for hiding al Qaeda, and also to destroy al Qaeda. We achieved both objectives, and since then we've decided to shift gears and turn it into a nation-building exercise. For some reason, the powers that be figured it would be a good idea to attempt to transform a medieval culture with next to nothing in infrastructure and very little national cohesiveness into a modern day democracy. Just makes me shake my head.

I was an advisor for the Iraqi Air Force teaching them to fly their C-130s, and THAT was a frustrating experience. But at least they had a sense of national pride, decent infrastructure, a basic education and, well, some semblance of a modern society. Little to none of that exists in Afghanistan, so I can't even imagine what it's like trying to build an air force there.

A good read, if you care, is Lt Col Michael Veneri's article titled "Multiplying by Zero". It's a very good look into why we are wasting our time, talent and treasure over there, and we just need to stop. Pull everyone back to the Deid and remind the Taliban that if we so much as hear a whisper from them, we'll be back overhead with fighters and bombers to stop their a$$es again.

http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/...janfeb2011.pdf