For the first time ever, the UN and Afghan government have worked together to develop a National Action Plan to investigate and prosecute bacha bazi -- the practice of young boys being trafficked for sex and entertainment -- and other forms of child trafficking in Afghanistan. The National Action Plan comes as a result of a year of hard work from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the Afghan government and civil society, and after nearly 4,000 Change.org members wrote to the UN asking them to make fighting child sex trafficking in Afghanistan a priority in a previous campaign. But now, President Karzai and General Patraeus are dragging their feet on implementing the action plan.

The bacha bazi tradition, which literally means "boy play" has deep roots in Afghan culture. For centuries, wealthy men have been buying orphans or boys from poor families, dressing them in women's clothing, and paying them to sing and dance for entertainment. After the bacha party, the boy is auctioned off to the highest bidder or shared by several men for sex. When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, they banned the practice, and it remains illegal today. But since the Taliban was ousted, the tradition has been revived and is growing.

Bacha bazi boys are usually teens, but many are as young as 11. Most of them come from very poor families or are orphans from the war. Boys are lured off the street or bought from family members by businessmen. Then, they are usually kept in a house with other boys, trained sing, dance, and play musical instruments. They are also introduced to the commercial sex industry, usually by being raped by the men who train them or sold for sex out of the backseat of cars.

For the first time, Afghanistan has the tools to fight bacha bazi and other forms of child trafficking. And it's time the government, President Karzai, and General Patraeus implemented the National Action Plan.