Kabul, Afghanistan – Afghanistan erupted in celebration on Monday night, with these following the nationwide cricket crew sharing a uncommon second of pleasure with a 130-run win over Scotland within the T20 World Cup.
Afghans, these overseas and those within the nation, together with a whole bunch of people that have been displaced within the two months for the reason that Taliban takeover, celebrated the win in Sharjah, the nationwide crew’s first outing for the reason that fall of the Afghan authorities.
For Afghan athletes, the victory was a mixture of feelings.
Marzieh Hamidi, a feminine Taekwondo athlete who has been unable to compete for the reason that Taliban got here to energy, stated that the victory comes at a precarious time for the nation’s athletes.
As a feminine fighter, Hamidi is afraid for the way forward for her sport however stated she was nonetheless overtaken by pleasure.
“Right now, when everyone seems to be on the peak of misery and fear, all of us shed tears of happiness and ache to see our cricket crew come out on high,” the 19-year-old informed Al Jazeera.
However she stated that, in contrast to earlier wins, the celebration was confined to inside individuals’s homes.
“If solely we might have taken the happiness to the streets,” she stated.
In 2013, when the nationwide soccer crew received the South Asia Cup, the streets of the capital, Kabul, and different cities had been full of hundreds of revellers waving the Afghan flag and enjoying the nationwide anthem from their automobiles.
Masie Hajizada, proprietor of one in all Kabul’s hottest eating places, stated Monday’s triumph was one other instance that regardless of many years of conflict and destruction, the Afghan individuals are nonetheless able to unbelievable feats.
“Final night time, we had been all full of laughter, tears, happiness and hope. I assure, whether or not in enterprise, sports activities, no matter, the potential of the Afghan individuals will shock the world. The success of our cricket crew is simply one other reminder of that,” Hajizada informed Al Jazeera.
To others, the politics of a recreation that has been handed right down to so many countries via their ties with the British Empire, will not be misplaced.
Gul Ahmadzai, an entrepreneur who splits his time between Afghanistan and Tanzania, took the win as a possibility to remind the world that Afghanistan defeated the British in three separate wars.
“Afghanistan by no means grew to become a part of the empire, and despite the fact that we could also be a de facto state for the time being, we nonetheless received. What different nation can say that?” Ahmadzai informed Al Jazeera.
From the outset, the match appeared to stir feelings as Afghans expressed their sense of elation and eager for listening to the nation’s nationwide anthem forward of the match itself.
“Simply seeing our flag and listening to the nationwide anthem play from the stadium gave us a way of hope,” Hamidi, the feminine Taekwondo fighter, stated.
A one and a half minute clip of the crew’s 15 males, nonetheless donning jerseys emblazoned with the tri-colour flag of the nation and the dominion earlier than it, was shared throughout Afghan social media.
Most of the posts identified the ultimate moments of the clip, when the crew captain Mohammad Nabi may very well be seen wiping his tears.
Afghanistan cricket star Mohammad Nabi cried when the nationwide anthem of #Afghanistan was enjoying in the course of the recreation with Scotland, this made me cry too… ? all one of the best for the crew pic.twitter.com/4Vw6y2MPKi
— Shabnam Bayani (@ShabnamBayani) October 25, 2021
“Watching this video certainly made tens of millions of #Afghans cry. This time, it’s not for happiness however it’s for the misplaced goals and achievements,” Rateb Noori, a journalist who’s at the moment in search of asylum in Europe, posted on Twitter.
Ariana Alyas, an Afghan Australian, was one in all hundreds of Afghans watching from overseas. Like so many others, she too was moved by the flag and the anthem.
“Seeing that lovely flag within the stadium with the nationwide anthem was really mesmerising. It was an enormous victory, particularly given what Afghans had been via within the earlier two months. The crew has accomplished us proud and I want all of them one of the best,” the 23-year-old biomedical scientist informed Al Jazeera.
Even outdoors Afghanistan, the match managed to convey pleasure to Afghans who fled the nation quickly after the Taliban takeover.
In Qatar, the match was broadcast for a whole bunch of refugees ready for resettlement at a US navy camp.
Edris Lutfi, who has been within the camp for 3 weeks now, stated having the match projected on an enormous display screen fulfilled the fast want of distraction for a whole bunch of people that spend their days ready for the day they’ll lastly head to their remaining locations.
However it was the victory that led to an “ecstatic” response, he stated.
Once more, it was the presence of an enormous black, crimson and inexperienced Afghan flag that led to emotions of happiness and shock among the many a whole bunch of individuals gathered within the hangar.
Lutfi stated he was shocked to see a buddy of his waving the outsized flag, recalling that after they fled the northern metropolis of Mazar-i-Sharif in September, they had been informed to solely convey a backpack full of garments on the flight to Doha.
When he inquired concerning the origins of the flag, one other buddy of his ready to go to america recounted the story of taking it from the house owners of the visitor home they had been all staying in whereas ready on information of flights in a foreign country.
“The visitor home proprietor had taken it down when the Taliban arrived in Mazar,” Lutfi stated.
When the Taliban took over in August, the tricolour flag grew to become a supply of protests as demonstrators throughout a number of japanese provinces used it to interchange the Taliban’s black-on-white flag.
Within the leadup to the 102nd anniversary of independence, the Taliban was accused of killing three protesters who took to the streets in help of the standard flag in Jalalabad, the capital of Nangarhar province.
Lutfi’s buddy finally needed to battle with the cleaner of the visitor home who had used the flag as a shade for his bicycle.
He was capable of persuade the cleaner to provide him the flag which he has saved with him your complete time and intends to take to his remaining vacation spot.