That’s Not Cricket

In post-Taliban Kabul, Afghans have returned to their favorite sport—fighting over a headless carcass

By Joe Cochrane NEWSWEEK WEB EXCLUSIVE

Jan. 23 — No sponsor is likely to sign up Aziz Ahmed for sports endorsements anytime soon. Sitting on the field at Kabul’s sports stadium with a sly grin on his face—and blood on his hands and jersey—Ahmed is a hot player of buzkashi, the national sport of Afghanistan. How does it work? Picture 20 men on horseback, armed with whips and fighting for possession of the headless carcass of a young cow. It is at once polo, wrestling and, well, bestiality. “You would die playing this game,” Ahmed says.

Buzkashi has been a Central Asian favorite for centuries. Allowed infrequently by the Taliban—who used Kabul’s sports stadium to carry out public executions instead—the game is now back in the capital and drawing crowds of thousands. The rules may be confusing to foreigners, but there was certainly no shortage of action at the weekly game I attended. Teams scored points by dropping the black carcass into either of two circles marked at one end of a large field. The price for these gains was enduring lashes from whips carried by riders from the opposing team; potentially fatal falls and the prospect of hands crushed by horse hooves as players try to retrieve the carcass. No pain, no gain.

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