MAIWAND DISTRICT, AFGHANISTAN - Gangnam Style, the viral internet sensation featuring Korean pop-sensation Psy, has earned a new accolade over the weekend -- this time in Afghanistan. It has become the first international music hit to be banned by the conservative Taliban leadership since Justin Timberlake’s "Sexy Back" was outlawed in 2006 for provoking fits of lust in the local men when sung by young dancing boys.
This latest incident came after local Taliban squad leader, Mohammed Fuq Mohammed, allowed a patrol of Americans to walk through an unarmed IED belt here in Southern Afghanistan. Instead of attaching the batteries to the explosive devices that morning, Mohammed spent his waking hours dancing and singing along with the video again and again, even encouraging his subordinates to participate in the party.
This is not the first time the Taliban have been taken in by a Western internet craze, but it is the first time combat operations on the ground were directly affected. Local commander Mohammed Saheeb Mohammed discovered the incident after frantically reporting the approaching American patrol to his soldiers and ordering them to prepare for combat.
