Argentina had fans from more unusual countries, such as India and Bangladesh, where they celebrated their world championship triumph as if it were their own. But no one imagined that it would be in Afghanistan where the people it would defy the Taliban regime’s instructions to watch matches and supporting Argentina from the quarterfinals.
Afghan designers were part of the team that created the logo for the World Cup in Qatar 2022. They plan to give it to Lionel Messi, the idol of the Argentina team in their country, and are looking into how to send it.
Baz Mohammad Faizi who is one of the designers of the badge has it the intention to remind the world with this gift that Afghanistan exists, that it needs humanitarian aid and international contacts, which cannot be ignored.
Faizi said this logo took two weeks to build. Six people participated in its construction, day and night.
“Its base is made of wood and it has about 8,000 gems in two colors. There was a lot of work to do,” he explained to Tolo, the Afghan TV channel.
The young artist pointed out that this symbol was created to deliver the winning team and its best player, Lionel Messi, in recent days.
How to deliver the gift?
The problem is how to get the gift to Messi, when no regular international aircraft arrive in Afghanistan.
“We are trying to send this gift to Messi via transport companies or through a third country,” he explained.
Probably the best route is through Qatar and from there to Paris, where Messi lives and plays for PSG, owned by the Emir of Qatar. Qatar Airways and Kam still maintain flights to Kabul.
The Afghan job is more than a gift to Messi. It is a request for attention to the most famous player in the world to help his countryisolated from the world, with a unique famine and child malnutrition after the end of the western occupation.
Its people need medical and educational care, the right to asylum, food after the enormous drought. Their women must defend their right to study in universities and cannot be ignored.
That’s why they decided to show their love for football, the passion of Afghans for Argentina to ask for help from Messi and the world.
The Taliban government’s minister of higher education on Thursday defended his decision to ban women from universities, a decree that has sparked a global outcry.
Women and the university
Discussing the issue in public for the first time, Nida Mohammad Nadim said the ban issued earlier this week “was necessary to prevent gender mixing in universities and because it believes that some subjects taught violate the tenets of Islam.” . ban was in effect until further notice.”
In an interview on Afghan television, Nadim rejected international condemnation widespread, even from Muslim-majority countries such as Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar.
Nadim said that “foreigners should stop interfering in Afghanistan’s internal affairs.”
Foreign ministers of the G-7 group of states have urged the Taliban to lift the ban. They warned that “gender persecution may constitute a crime against humanity”.
The ministers warned, after a virtual meeting, that “Taliban policies designed to erase women from public life will have consequences for how our countries interact with the Taliban”.
The G-7 group includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union.
Ban on attending matches
Salem Whahdat is a refugee in Spain. He was Afghan consul in Canada and diplomat in Madrid, presidential adviser in Kabul. He today he hopes in Madrid to be able to join his family in Canada. Polyglot and fluent in Spanish, he was a translator for Spanish troops in Afghanistan and knew King Juan Carlos.
“In my country everyone defended Argentina in this World Cup. I have 180,000 Afghan followers on the networks and there isn’t one who hasn’t displayed the Argentine flag. There is a real ‘Messi Mania’ in my country, despite the difficulties and risks of attending matches. This gift to Messi is very symbolic. It is a plea for help from Afghans to the world and Afghan creatives and artisans have been working day and night to make it happen,” he said clarion.
The owner of two shisha bars in Kabul, where young people often gathered to watch sporting events, said the Taliban’s recent ban on the sale of shisha (water pipe tobacco) in restaurants in the cities of Kabul Kabul, Kandahar and Herat has also influenced their World Cup business.
“People just don’t come after the hookah ban,” said the businessman, who asked not to be named, fearing reprisals from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforces the ban.
Women without football
Women and girls in Afghanistan have been barred from watching the World Cup in public due to a harsh restriction on their freedoms by the Taliban, said an opposition leader, who is visiting the UK.
Ali Maisam Nazary, head of external relations of the National Resistance Front (NRF), arrived in London on Wednesday with the warning that the country’s Taliban rulers “are becoming radicalized day by day”.
Nazary said Qatar, which was in the global spotlight during the World Cup, should close the Taliban liaison office in Doha.
His comments follow three UN agencies, which reported in August 2022 on how women and girls in Afghanistan have had a ‘year of growing disrespect’since the Taliban came to power in August 2021.
“This is an oppressive terrorist group that has restricted the entire population, and especially women,” Nazary said.
poverty and hunger
Rahim, a 30-year-old pilot, who asked that only his name be used for safety reasons, also says that the growing restrictions and the bad state of the economy they prevent many people from enjoying their passions, including the World Cup.
“I have many friends who are die-hard football fans, but even they don’t see it the way they used to,” he explained.
Rahim says people are too preoccupied with other things right now to even enjoy a historic World Cup.
“People don’t know how to feed their families. Every time they go out they feel watched over by the Taliban. Who can think about football at a time like this?” he admitted.
Paris, correspondent
B. C
Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.