International
Trading Kalashnikovs for Soccer
A lot of Afghans took time out from work to cheer the home team to victory.
With the relationship between Afghanistan and Pakistan fraught with diplomatic fouls and offsides, it took a soccer match in Kabul to bring together the two countries that routinely exchange bellicose rhetoric—and occasional gunfire—across their border. On August 20, 2013, the neighbours squared off in an encounter of a different kind, sparking hopes of a more peaceful relationship. Afghans and Pakistanis blame each other for violence plaguing both countries, with many in Afghanistan convinced that Pakistan is still pulling the strings behind a 12-year Taliban insurgency. Days before a planned visit to Islamabad by Afghan President Hamid Karzai who has repeatedly accused Islamabad of trying to undermine the prospects of peace with the Taliban, it was the first time the two countries' teams officially played each other on Afghan soil since 1976—before the Communist coup, the Soviet occupation, the civil war, the Taliban takeover, and the U.S. invasion.
The match was played in front of a sellout crowd of 6,000 people, with heavily armed Afghan security forces creating a cordon around the stadium, according to the Associated Press. And while the game was celebrated as a chance to promote Afghanistan's future, the ghosts of the past were never far away. The match was played on artificial turf at the new Afghanistan Football Federation Stadium, not far from Ghazi Stadium, which became the scene of public executions, stoning and mutilations of people who transgressed the Taliban's strict laws during the Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001. Other reminders were also present. Occasionally a US Black Hawk drifted overhead, a reminder of the bloody war being fought outside the stadium walls.
The match raised hope that it would deepen relationship between the neighbouring countries.
The match, however, signaled an apparent wind of change. The Guardian reported that there was a small but packed women's section at the game. One spectator, Youssof Kohzad 25, told AFP that Taliban insurgents at a roadblock in volatile Wardak province were friendly to him and had wished the team every success. "On the way here the Taliban stopped me. I told them I was going to the football match, and they happily let me pass," he said. Many die-hard fans like him travelled long distances on the country's often-perilous roads to attend the game, sometimes braving Taliban checkpoints. Some of them paid scalpers as much as 1,000 Afghanis, equivalent of $18, quite a substantial sum in Afghanistan —for a ticket with a face value of around a dollar.
Thousands gathered in restaurants and coffee shops in Kabul or watched the action on TV sets displayed in shop windows at electronic stores in the city. Shopkeepers, vendors, students and office workers took time out to shout the home team to victory.
“The success of this match shows that football is a catalyst to bring peace. This also proves Afghanistan's return to normalcy after decades of war,” Asian Football Confederation President Shaikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement after the match. “This game was symbolic for the South Asians and confirms football's power to promote positive relationship between neighbouring countries.”
The home side dominated the game from the kick-off. Their first goal, by Sanjar Ahmadi, around 20 minutes into the game, set off a rapturous round of applause from the fans many of whom had the Afghan flag painted on their faces. The delirious crowd cheered every pass, even a throw-in. When Harash Atefi scored the second goal, the crowd started dancing in circles chanting patriotic slogans such as "long live Afghanistan." Before this game, the most recent international match the Afghans played in Kabul was against Turkmenistan in November 2003. Marouf Mahmoudi's goal on 71 minutes, making the score 3-0, touched off a raucous street celebration, boosting Afghan national pride.
"I felt like we won the world cup," says Gul Mohammad Afridi over telephone. He immigrated to the US in 2004 as a refugee and now works as a butcher at a local grocery in Oklahoma City. "I'm so proud that Afghanistan beat Pakistan; Pakistan has always looked down on us.”
Many Afghans saw the match as a sweet victory over an old and bitter adversary. The BBC's Karen Allen in Kabul wrote that the friendly match was being seen as a deeply symbolic moment. Broadcast by Afghan telecommunications firm Roshan on both Afghan and Pakistani television, the match was billed as an indication of Afghanistan's return to normality after decades of war. Hopes were high that it might also help ease political tensions with its neighbour. Pakistani officials also expressed optimism that the match would deepen the relationship between the two countries.
Soccer has undergone something of a renaissance in Afghanistan during the past ten years.
Mohammad Daud Miskinyar, a technical support analyst at Dell, Oklahoma City, USA who watched the game live on TV with a bunch of American friends says the game promoted national unity in Afghanistan, still struggling with a violent insurgency after more than three decades of conflict. "The outcome of the match proved that as a nation Afghans can come together and win. It also paves the path for a better relationship with Pakistan,” he says over telephone.
The match, however, drew little attention in Pakistan, where soccer is a minor sport. Lalarukh Khan, a Pakistani psychiatrist living in Dubai expresses admiration for the Afghan team's performance. "The Afghans showed professionalism and discipline," she says. “But we have to remember that the Pakistanis are not used to playing on artificial turf.”
Soccer has undergone something of a renaissance in Afghanistan. During the past ten years FIFA has invested USD $1.5million towards two projects in Kabul: the installation of a football turf pitch at the Afghan Football Federation stadium in Kabul and the construction of the association's headquarters. Now at the top of South Asia rankings, Afghanistan became the champion in the 2013 SAFF (South Asian Football Federation) games beating India 2-0. Last year saw the launch of the Roshan Afghan Premier League, a televised soccer league that has drawn players from abroad including one from Norway's premier league.
Many Afghans and Pakistanis believe that the match has done more for relations between the two countries than anything else. These relations have been particularly fraught this year. This spring, the Afghan government called off participation in a military exercise in Pakistan to protest alleged cross-border shelling. Pakistan denied the shelling and other Afghan allegations.
Afghanistan Football Federation Secretary General Sayed Aghazada said in a statement released after the match, "Afghan football has improved in terms of organisation and infrastructure, and we now believe that football can play an even bigger role in our country."
Lalarukh Khan, also expresses optimism that the match would deepen the relationship between the two countries. "I hope the game helps rebuild trust and strengthen good relations,” she wishes.
Matiullah Turab, one of Afghanistan's most famous Pashtun poets once wrote, “O flag-bearers of the world/you have pained us a lot in the name of security/You cry of peace and security/and you dispatch guns and ammunition.” During the day Turab is a metalsmith in a garage repairing vehicles that transport goods around the countryside. At nightfall he is a poet shaping poetry as hard and piercing as the tools he uses by day. Nature and romance carry no interest for him—he writes about the sufferings and helplessness of his people who are often described as fighters, warriors and terrorists, among other things. It is time the world gave them a new definition.
We may start with sending them more footballs.
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