Children of Afghan refugees playing cricket on the outskirts of Peshawar in Pakistan. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Jan 21 2014 (IPS)

Afghanistan is rediscovering the joy of cricket. It is seen as a tool of progress, a means of entertainment, and a way to wean youth away from violence in a country that has been ravaged by conflict for more than 30 years.

Afghanistan will join Asia’s four Test playing nations – India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh – in the 50-over Asia Cup next month.

But, as many players acknowledge, cricket would never have made a glorious return to Afghanistan without the help of neighbouring Pakistan, where many Afghan cricketers grew up watching and loving the game.“Violence-wracked Afghanistan desperately needs cricket as a means of entertainment.” -- Muhammad Nabi, the Afghan cricket team captain

“Violence-wracked Afghanistan desperately needs cricket as a means of entertainment,” Muhammad Nabi, the Afghan cricket team captain, tells IPS. “It is also a big opportunity to wean Afghan youths away from the Taliban.”

Nabi says most of his players developed their passion for cricket in Pakistan.

Millions of Afghans have sought refuge in Pakistan since the erstwhile Soviet Union invaded their country in 1979. “Cricket is very popular in Pakistan and Afghans also watched the game and began playing it there,” Nabi says.

Today if there is one thing that never fails to delight Afghans, it is cricket. Since 2007, Afghanistan has played 21 Twenty20 international matches, where each side plays 20 overs.

“We have one day international (ODI) status and will be playing in the 2015 World Cup. It will give us much-needed international experience,” says Nabi, an all-rounder. The ODIs feature 50-over games.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) was established in 1995, but the Taliban government banned cricket, leaving the players high and dry.

“Afghan youths, however, continued playing the game in Pakistan, especially in Peshawar,” says Dr Noor Muhammad Murad, chief executive officer of the ACB.

It enabled Afghanistan to take part in the 2007 ACC Twenty20 Cup in Kuwait. And Murad has fond memories of the tournament. “It ended in a tie and the trophy was shared by Oman and Afghanistan,” he says.

“All Afghan cricketers have trained in Peshawar where most of them grew up. We are always thankful to the Pakistan government for helping develop cricket in Afghanistan,” Murad says.

Ahead of the Asia Cup 2014, to be played in Bangladesh from Feb. 25 to Mar. 8, Afghanistan is hoping to get some good practice in Pakistan.

“We have requested the Pakistan Cricket Board to allow us to play practice matches in Kaddafi Stadium, Lahore, to prepare for the tournament,” says Murad.

Pakistani fast bowler Kabir Khan, who started coaching the Afghan cricket team in 2008, has been working hard to promote the game in Afghanistan.

“We have established 11 cricket academies and three stadiums in Afghanistan where a regional level tournament takes place. Cricket has replaced football as the most popular sport in that country.”

“Today Afghans are cricket-crazy, as is evident from the rush of spectators at local matches,” Khan tells IPS.

Most Afghans are already looking forward to the World Cup in 2015.

Afghan batsman Karim Sadiq tells IPS, “We are banking on Pakistan’s support. We have already played on international grounds in Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi and will be going there again to prepare ourselves.”

Sadiq says he began playing cricket in Peshawar where he spent his youth. “Peshawar is my second home and I like to play there.”

Twenty-six-year-old Samiullah Shinwari, a spin bowler, says his country has abundant raw talent which can be honed “with good infrastructure”.

“Cricket is an excellent and crowd-pulling game. We can use it as a tool of peace in Afghanistan,” he says.

Former Pakistani wicketkeeper Rashid Lateef says he is working with Afghan players to help improve their technique.

“Currently we are coaching two Afghan players so they can start playing professional cricket,” Lateef, who runs a cricket academy in Karachi, tells IPS. “Once they start earning money from the game, others will also be attracted.”

Cricketer Aftab Alam, 22, says he is indebted to Pakistan for teaching him the sport. “In Peshawar, we used to have matches with local players and today we are playing international cricket.”

As a cricketer, he considers himself an ambassador for Afghanistan.

“We are sure that one day our country will host international cricket matches. There would be scores of sponsors to promote international cricket,” he says. “The credit for it will go to Pakistan.”

Alam says the streets and bazaars empty out when Afghanistan plays internationally as people make it a point to watch the matches. “Even for local matches, spectators come in droves, seeking moments of leisure and entertainment.”

A match at the recent cricket tournament held in Pakistan's northern Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan , Jul 24 2013 (IPS)

Pakistanis are no strangers to sports-related violence; in fact, many have come to expect scuffles and conflict, especially following a major cricket match. In the country’s northern Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), however, cricket has become a tool to promote peace.

For over a decade, FATA and its neighbouring provinces, which form Pakistan’s tribal belt that doubles as the border with Afghanistan, have been a safe haven for Taliban militants fleeing the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Kabul and subsequent occupation of Afghanistan by NATO and its allied forces.

Countless attempts to violently crush the Taliban have failed to completely root the militants out of Pakistan’s rocky, mountainous terrain.

Desperate, the local government has turned its attention to alternative coping strategies, with sports quickly becoming a popular “weapon” in the arsenal against religious extremists, especially as a means of turning tribal youth away from militant activity.

An upbeat Shahid Shinwari, secretary of the FATA Olympic Association, told IPS he was pleasantly surprised by the massive turnout at the recent weeklong cricket tournament in which Mohmand Agency – one of seven districts that comprise the tribal areas – defeated the host Bajaur Agency.

Until 2012, Bajaur Agency was a veritable war zone, witnessing a major government offensive against the Taliban in 2008 that saw the deaths of 1,600 militants and 150 civilians and close to 5,000 injured.

Of the 300,000 civilians forced to flee the fighting, only 18,000 have returned, with most of the internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in makeshift settlements with little access to the most basic services such as running water and healthcare.

That this troubled district could draw a crowd for purely civilian purposes, with residents “starved for entertainment” coming out in droves to support the 16 teams on Jul. 7-14, signals a major turning point in the search for an “elusive peace” here, according to Shinwari.

He said the celebrations following Mohmand Agency’s narrow eight-run victory stood in stark contrast to the climate of terror and anxiety that has prevailed here for years.

Buoyed by FATA’s innovative approach to fighting off terrorism, a cricket team from the northeastern Afghan border province of Kunar also participated in the tournament sponsored by the Pakistani army.

Kunar’s team captain, who asked not to be named, praised the hospitality extended to his team members, adding that such events were “vital for enhancing relations between the two countries”, whose people endure similar hardships at the hands of the Taliban.

“I only hope that sports continue to promote peace,” he told IPS.

Seventeen-year-old Taj Ali, captain of the home team, told IPS that many young people from his generation joined the Taliban in the absence of outlets for their youthful energy.

Now, he says, FATA has undergone a “sea change”, with youth reveling in this newfound opportunity to “thwart the terrorists”.

About 100 small cricket teams, by far the most popular sport among tribal youth, have popped up in remote villages throughout Bajaur Agency.

Eager to capitalise on local enthusiasm, the Pakistani government last year commissioned a 4.9-million-dollar sports complex, complete with all the necessary facilities for training young athletes such as a gymnasium, cricket and football grounds, and indoor courts for basketball, volleyball, squash and badminton.

Already some 5,000 boys and girls frequent this complex, working with several trained professionals to master the sport of their choice.

Kashif Ali, a 17-year-old kabbadi player (a South Asian wrestling sport popular in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) from the Orakzai Agency, told IPS his brother was a militant for three years, but has now renounced insurgent activity in favour of football.

Kashif says he personally knows at least two-dozen other boys who have done the same, bringing the total of militants-turned-athletes to just over 150.

Trainers say sports also promise poor youth a decent income in the future, with many athletes from FATA joining national teams or professional organisations.

Regional governments are casting their nets wide enough to include women – long marginalised by the Taliban in Pakistan’s northern regions – in the wave of sports fever sweeping the region.

Khanum Bibi, a 16-year-old badminton player, came to Peshawar, capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province, in search of facilities that are severely lacking in her hometown. She says women are keen to engage in sports, despite strict religious codes that have excluded them from the playing fields for years.

“Sportswomen perform better academically because outdoor activities keep them fit and healthy,” she told IPS.

Her cousin, who came to Peshawar to be trained as a table tennis player, echoed these sentiments, adding that the KP government ought to make investments in sporting facilities in rural areas so that residents can play with their “own people instead of strangers from Peshawar”.

Over 5,000 women in Pakistan’s northern provinces are part of sports teams.

KP Governor Shaukatullah Khan says the local government has now begun a hunt for 400 acres of land on which to construct a billion-dollar international sports complex – complete with grounds, courts, hostels and medical facilities – for the tribal areas, after recognising that “sports [are] the only way to defeat the Taliban.”

The governor praised FATA’s athletes for having bagged 16 medals at the recent National Games in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, despite their lack of training.

“Our players placed second in archery and third in basketball and judo at the nationwide competition, which surprised everyone,” he said, adding that the honour spoke volumes about FATA residents’ natural aptitude for sports.

Frontier Corps Major General Ghayyur Mahmood, in charge of military operations for FATA, told IPS that sports have also been crucial in efforts to improve law and order in the region, by promoting peace and “a sense of normalcy”.

“We have several major events in the pipeline, for which we are putting in place modern indoor and outdoor facilities [capable of hosting] over 20 games,” Shinwari said.

The most eagerly anticipated of these gatherings is the upcoming 11-day all-agency FATA club tournament, slated to begin on Aug. 14, during which the winning clubs in this past April’s intra-agency competitions will vie for the top slots in basketball, volleyball, cricket, kabbadi, badminton, squash, hockey, kushti (a form of local wrestling), netball, judo and karate.

Kashif Ali and his brother are training hard for the games, hoping to bring glory to their agency and win the respect of their family and community members.