
Afghanistan has long been considered one of the most religious countries in the world: a place where men and women follow Islamic doctrine carefully

But behind the devout exterior, the country is hiding a dark secret - one which the government has tried to sweep under the rug.

Bacha bazi, which translate as 'boy play', is on the surface a harmless form of entertainment - young boys dancing for the entertainment of their elders.

In reality, it is often little more than sex slavery, where boys as young as 10 are passed around a group of middle aged men for their own sexual gratification.

Boys like Shukur, who was just 12 when he was stolen away from his family and made to be a 'bacha bereesh'. It took him five years to escape, and he now uses the dances he learned to make a living.

He is luckier than most.

Tradition: Shaharyar became a dancer when he was 17, after his father died and he needed to make money. He met his master in a Chai Khana, or tea shop, and was taught dancing. The master is now his agent, and takes a cut of his what he earns performing for parties

Dancing boy: Shukur, 21 in this picture, was kidnapped in Kabul when he was 12 years old and taken to Kunduz where he was kept as a Bacha Bereesh - a dancing boy - for a rich and powerful man. He was 17 when he escaped, and began making a living from his dancing

Afghanistan's poverty has been a driving force in the rise of bacha bazi in the last 15 years. It makes it easy for predators to prowl the streets targeting 'pretty' young boys, enticing them from their families with promises of work or education.

These promises more often than not come to nothing: instead, the boys are trained as dancers, made to perform to groups of men dressed as girls, bells on their flowing skirts and make up on the faces.

They command the attention of the room as they move to the traditional songs, with words which do more than hint at what is to come.

'He's touching the boy with his cotton clothes,' a musician sang on the 2009 documentary, The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan.

'Where do you live, so I can get to know your father.

'Oh boy, you have set your lover on fire.'

Once the party is over, and the dancing has finished, the true horror of their role is revealed.

Then the boys are passed between the men, taken to hotel rooms where they can be sexually abused.

'The boys don’t earn anything from the parties,' explained photographer Barat Ali Batoor, who spent months winning the boys' trust and documenting their lives,

'But they live as though they are in a relationship with their masters, so their masters keep them, house them and buy them food and things.

'They have sex with their masters and then at the parties they are abused by different people.'

It is said one of the country's favourite sayings is women are for children, boys are for pleasure.

Sordid: This young boy - filmed as part of the documentary, The Dancing Boys of Afghanistan - is another bacha bereesh. But these boys are not just dancers, but often sexually abused, by their masters and sometimes by their friends, kept as little more than sex slaves

Poverty: When he was a bacha bereesh, Shakur would not have earned anything from his evenings dancing - but would have been 'kept' by his master, who would provide food and clothing for the boy, or boys, in his ownership

Desperation: Often these boys are from impoverished families, and are tempted away by promises of work and education - neither of which is likely to come to fruition. Instead, they find themselves stigmatised by wider Afghan society, seen as 'gay'

Boasting: It is highly prestigious in some circles to have your own boy. Having one or many bacha bereesh is seen as a marker of your power and wealth - which means some war lords can have more than 10 in their service. How pretty the boys are is also important

The practice, known as 'bacha bazi', is 'shameful', says Dr Soraya Sobhrang, who led an nation-wide investigation into the practice for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission.

'Nobody admitted to us they were bacha bereesh. They don't want to talk about it. If they want to marry, nobody can know. No family wants to give their daughter to these people. Dr Sorraya Sobhrang

In any other country, it would be considered paedophilia. In Afghanistan, however, the perpetrators have been protected by the police, scared to upset the powerful warlords and businessmen.

'A war lord has many - they keep maybe 10 boys, all together,' Dr Sobhrang told MailOnline.

'When the boys are beautiful it shows they are powerful, but also the number. You have to spend a lot of money to pay the boys, feed the boys, keep them clothed.

'It shows your wealth.'

Yet for the boys, more than two fifths of whom are between the age of 13 and 15, being chosen as a bacha bareesh - man without a beard - it is a life sentence, one which will see them cast out of their families and shunned by society.

Many turn to drugs.

'There was one particular boy I remember, called Faraidoon, who was about 13 when I first met him, who was taken and used in the parties,'Ali Batoor told MailOnline.

'He started taking heroin to help him cope, but he was still being taken to the parties.

'In the end he ran away, and he moved around a lot so they wouldn’t find him. He was begging on the streets of Kabul. If he’s still alive he would be about 18 now.'

Disgust: Dr Sorraya Sobhrang, who led an investigation into bacha bazi in 2014, says the practice is 'shameful' and an abuse of the children's human rights. Pictured: A young man gives a performance based on the bacha bazi dances

Accepted: On this occasion, the men are performing to a group of policemen in Uruzgan province. Until recently, there was no law which directly prohibited bacha bazi - but after Dr Sobhrang released the report, the government decided to finally act

Banned: Bacha bazi, which has been around for decades, was almost wiped out under the Taliban, but made a resurgence after the war

Shocking: American soldiers have recounted their surprise at seeing grown men walking down the street with young boys. Others have described having to listen to the sounds of young boys being raped at night - but were told to do nothing to stop it

Bacha bazi is not a new phenomenon in a country famed for keeping its women and men separate. However, it was all but wiped out under the Taliban.

But with the fall of the extremist group, bacha bazi returned. It quickly became so acceptable that even the police would be sat among the dozen or so men cheering the boys on.

The fact homosexuality is forbidden in Islam is swept under the carpet by those who participate, who claim there is a loophole. They are not in love with the boys, and therefore not gay.

Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan after 2001 spoke of their surprise at watching grown men walking down the streets of the conservative country, hand in hand with a young boy.

But even the coalition forces looked the other way.

Lance Corporal Geoffrey Buckley Jr told his father he was forced to listen to the screams of young boys being raped at night.

But last September, three years after Lance Cprl Buckley was shot to death on his base, Gregory Buckley Sr told the New York Times: 'My son said that his officers told him to look the other way because it's their culture.'

Lance Cprl Buckley wasn't the only person to raise the alarm: Unicef compiled its own report in 2008, and an award-winning documentary followed.

Yet nothing changed for years.

Cycle: But with the boys pushed out of society, they have few options. Batoor explained many of them turned to drugs or alcohol to cope

Scarred: But some become bacha baaz themselves - prowling the streets to find the next generation of dancers to entrap

Turning a blind eye: Shukur dances in a party in Kabul, with police officials looking on in the background

When the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission's report was released last year, it found the practice was still just as widespread as it had always been.

But the shame is so great, it is hard to put an exact figure on how many boys have been - or are still being - kept by their 'bacha baz', their master. It is so covert, barely any pictures exist of the young boys performing their dances.

I love my lord. I love to dance and act like a woman and play with my owner. Once I grow up, I will be an owner and I will have my own boys. Ahmad, a bacha bereesh

'Nobody knows about how many boys there are - it is very sensitive, very underground,' said Dr Sobhrang.

'Maybe 100, maybe 500, maybe 1,000... It was one of the challenges when we visited some boys. When I asked them, they said they were owners, they didn't want to show they were the victims.

'Nobody admitted they were bacha bereesh. They don't want to talk about it.

'Some of these boys were 18 or 19. If they want to marry, nobody can know. No family wants to give their daughter to these people.'

The few boys the inquiry did managed to speak to revealed they dreamed of running away, despite the threats of violence and even murder, but had nowhere to turn.

'How can I run away from this place,' they told the report writers. 'Where can I go? I am not accepted by society or by my family.'

The boys are trapped in their world - and are drawn into becoming the predators themselves by the time they are considered too old to be a bacha bereesh anymore.

Speaking to Reuters in 2007, Ahmad, then 17, revealed: 'I love my lord. I love to dance and act like a woman and play with my owner.

'Once I grow up, I will be an owner and I will have my own boys.'

'It is a a psychological trauma,' said Dr Sobhrang. 'They think they can continue like a bacha baz.

'Now he is 20 years old, he can also take other boys for this process. And so it goes from one generation to another generation.'

Psychological trauma: Boys are often unable to run away - the threat of violence or even murder makes it to terrifying to even try

Predators: Men prowl the streets, looking for boys who can be enticed away from their families in return for their empty promises

Hardship: Orphans and street children are particularly vulneralbe: it is estimated there are 65,000 children living in poverty in Kabul

Hope: Dr Sobhrang is hopeful there will be a brighter future for Afghanistan's bacha bereesh - hoping children like this one won't one day fall prey to the industry

But there is hope: the report has struck a chord at the highest levels. The ministries of justice and religion have both sat up and listened.

For the first time, a law which directly deals directly with bacha bazi has begun to be put in place. Police are finally starting to make arrests.