Afghans who helped Army given homes at Weeton Barracks

BBC News
9 Nov 2023

Afghans who helped and supported the UK forces during the conflict in their home country will be offered temporary accommodation at a barracks.

Up to 55 families, who have a legal right to be in the UK, will be housed in service family accommodation homes in Weeton Barracks near Blackpool.

Fylde Council said families would start to arrive from Friday.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said: “We owe a huge debt of gratitude to all who worked for, or with, UK forces.

“That’s why we have committed to relocating all eligible Afghans and their families to the UK, a commitment we will honour.”

The homes were being offered “on a transitional basis while they await more settled accommodation across the UK”, the MOD added.

The properties are not currently in use by service personnel.

Under the Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) scheme, Afghan citizens who worked with the UK government in “exposed or meaningful roles” in the conflict in Afghanistan may be eligible to be relocated to the UK, along with their family members.

A Fylde Council spokeswoman said it was informed by the MoD of the decision.

“The MoD will provide all the required care for the families which will include basic provisions, employment support, health, education, and orientation to the UK,” she said.

“The maximum stay for any family will be six weeks whilst the MoD arrange settled accommodation around the UK.”

She added: “The council is grateful for the support that many Afghans provided to our forces during the recent conflict and will look to engage the families with the local community during their short stay at the barracks.”

The authority said the properties would be used until all the families had been accommodated elsewhere or when the regiment was scheduled to return in 2024.

Afghans who helped Army given homes at Weeton Barracks
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Analysts warn that Pakistan’s anti-migrant crackdown risks radicalizing deported Afghans

BY RIAZAT BUTT

Associated Press

November 9, 2023

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Pakistani government’s crackdown on undocumented migrants and mass deportations to Afghanistan risk radicalizing those who have been forced out of the country — often returning to deplorable conditions back home, analysts and experts said Thursday.

More than 250,000 Afghans have left Pakistan in recent weeks as the government rounded up, arrested and kicked out foreign nationals without papers. The drive mostly affects Afghans who make up the majority of foreigners living in Pakistan, although authorities say that all who are in the country illegally are targeted.

Thousands are crossing the border every day into Afghanistan with few or no belongings, enduring harsh conditions until they are relocated within a country they left to seek a better life.

The mistreatment could lead to their radicalization by fueling hatred for Pakistan, said Zahid Hussain, an analyst of militancy and author of several books, including “Frontline Pakistan: The Struggle with Militant Islam.”

There should have been an agreement between Islamabad and the Taliban-led government in Kabul to avoid a backlash, added Hussain. Instead, Pakistan is detaining and crowding Afghans in holding centers.

“It creates hate … and some of them can be radicalized against Pakistan when they return home,” Hussain told The Associated Press.

The forced expulsions will further strain relations between the two sides, and a new “wave of hate” arising from the deportations will be the result of the government’s flawed policy, he added.

“Do you think those who are being forced to go back to Afghanistan are happy?” Hussain asked rhetorically. “They are not happy, they will carry hate against Pakistan for a long time.”

Pakistan should reconsider the crackdown while there is still time to rectify the damage, he urged. “Policies should be corrected before things go out of control.”

Pakistan’s caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar has said that an increase in violence in Pakistan is one reason for the deportations.

Since the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan in August 2021, attacks have surged on Pakistani security forces and civilians. Most have been claimed by the Pakistani Taliban, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP, a separate militant group but a close ally of the Afghan Taliban.

Kakar and the government in Islamabad accuse the Taliban of harboring militants from groups like the TTP — allegations thet the Taliban deny.

The Taliban-appointed defense minister in Kabul, Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid, warned last week that Pakistan will reap what it sows.

The Pakistani Taliban are on the offensive, they are trying to win the “hearts and minds” of Afghans and there is a chance that some Afghans will become part of the group and take part in violence against Pakistan, said Abdullah Khan, the managing director at the Pakistan Institute for Conflict and Security Studies.

Pakistan has long hosted about 1.7 million Afghans, most of whom fled during the 1979-1989 Soviet occupation. In addition, more than half a million people fled Afghanistan when the Taliban seized power in the final weeks of U.S. and NATO pullout.

Khan said many Afghans had been living in Pakistan for decades — as if it were their own country.

If the returns were inevitable, they should at least have been given enough time to wind up their businesses, cancel their children’s school admissions and give notice to their employers before heading to Afghanistan, he said.

“I have a feeling that there will be more attacks by the TTP across the country, and we should not be surprised if it happens,” Khan added.

U.N. agencies and aid groups have said many of those who fled Pakistan to avoid arrest and deportation have little or no connection to Afghanistan. Many who have gone back lack water, food and shelter once they cross the border.

Some face additional barriers to integration because they don’t speak the local Afghan languages, Pashto and Dari, having learned English or Urdu while living in Pakistan.

Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and best-selling author who has written about Pakistan and Afghanistan for more than two decades, said the expulsions can only benefit extremists.

“They (Afghans) feel victimized and bullied by Pakistan,” Rashid said. “The policy will increase tensions between the Taliban and Pakistan, with militant groups looking to exploit the situation.”

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad contributed to this report.

Analysts warn that Pakistan’s anti-migrant crackdown risks radicalizing deported Afghans
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Afghan former interpreter with British army resettles in UK after legal battle

Geneva Abdul

The Guardian

Wed 8 Nov 2023 01.00 EST

Ahmad* was approved for relocation to UK before Home Office refusal meant he missed evacuation from Afghanistan in 2021

An Afghan former interpreter with the British army has resettled in the UK with his family after a lengthy legal battle with the government, more than two years after being initially approved for relocation.

Prior to the Taliban takeover, Ahmad* worked as an interpreter in Helmand province. In late 2020 he was approved for relocation to the UK before later facing a Home Office refusal, and missing the opportunity to evacuate as Britain and international allies withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.

“That was really, really difficult. That was an unforgettable time,” said Ahmad. “Right now, I’m here in the UK. It means their refusal was wrong. Why did you refuse my visa? What was the problem? This refusal made me get into a mental problem and I faced a lot of problems.”

Earlier this year, Ahmad and his family were granted visas following a series of judicial review challenges. In Iran, however, where the family had fled, they faced a prolonged wait after the government introduced a rule requiring those eligible under the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme (ACRS) or the Afghan relocations and assistance policy (Arap) to secure permanent accommodation prior to their arrival.

“It was irrational for the UK government to leave our client and so many others in risky situations abroad when they had been approved for relocation to safety in the UK,” said Erin Alcock, a lawyer who represents Ahmad.

“The government has now removed the housing requirement from the relocation process, paving the way for many more families to safely complete their relocation and start their new lives in the UK.”

While Ahmad and his family have successfully relocated, nearly 2,000 Afghan citizens who risked their lives working for or alongside the British government in Afghanistan, have been stuck in Pakistan or Iran for months – and in some cases years – awaiting similar resettlement. More than £15m has been spent providing accommodation for those eligible under Arap in third countries – including Pakistan and Iran.

Pakistan began deporting “illegal immigrants” after 1 November, in a move that the UN has said will put more than 1.4 million Afghans living in the country at grave risk. In late October, the first flight bringing Afghan citizens from Pakistan arrived in the UK, coinciding with a government 15 December deadline to eject people who worked for the UK in Afghanistan from hotels.

“The UK has made an ambitious and generous commitment to help at-risk people in Afghanistan and, so far, we have brought around 24,600 people to safety, including thousands of people eligible for our Afghan schemes,” a government spokesperson said.

“We continue to honour our commitments to bring eligible Afghans to the UK, with new arrivals going directly into settled accommodation where possible.”

Sara de Jong, a co-founder of the Sulha Alliance, which supports Afghans who worked for the British government to resettle in the UK, said she was delighted that Ahmad and his family had finally been given sanctuary more than two years after first reaching out to the organisation. But the delays in his case were unfortunately not unique, said De Jong.

“Concessions by the government in the court on individual cases, should lead them to expedite the UK resettlement of all other Afghan interpreters whose relocation has been frustrated by mistakes and obstacles for more than two years,” said De Jong, also a professor of politics at the University of York.

When the Taliban seized back power in the country in August 2021, Ahmad and his family stayed indoors and refrained from walking outdoors. He told his family that should someone ask after him, to say they had left the country.

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“That was difficult, but we were scared, my family and all of us,” said Ahmad. “That was a danger for us because we had a military job with the British forces in Afghanistan. I had a plan to escape from Afghanistan, but I didn’t get an opportunity.”

The opportunity came earlier this year when an email finally came from the Home Office notifying their approval to relocate to the UK. “That was a really happy moment,” said Ahmad.

For eight months the family lived in a hotel in Tehran, Iran. The situation was difficult, said Ahmad, who didn’t have the right to work. His children weren’t in school and they didn’t have access to quality health facilities, he said. When Ahmad went to extend their visas, Iranian authorities would ask: ‘Why are you here?’ and ‘Why aren’t you in Afghanistan instead?’ Civilians posed similar questions, he said, and as months passed, they remained in the hotel fearing arrest and deportation.

Still, some of Ahmad’s former colleagues are awaiting relocation from Iran and Pakistan. While he remains concerned over his initial refusal in 2020, for now, he is eager to start searching for work in the UK and begin their new life.

“We are so happy,” he said. “Everyone is happy.”

*Names have been changed to protect identities.

Afghan former interpreter with British army resettles in UK after legal battle
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Families of Blast Victims Call For Increased Security

The explosion in the west of Kabul took the life of a man who was busy working to find a piece of bread for his family on the streets.

Victim’s families in the Dasht-e-Barchi area of Kabul asked the current government to ensure their security.

They said that they have witnessed several explosions in the west of Kabul in the past month.

“Several explosions have taken place in PD13 im the past ten to twenty days. This explosion is not the first and it will not be the last,” Mohammad Ashraf, a resident of Kabul, told TOLOnews.

The explosion in the west of Kabul took the life of a man who was busy working to find a piece of bread for his family on the streets.

Daud, 37, was killed in the blast and was the sole breadwinner of his family according to relatives.

“He was a worker who made mosaics. Daud had two children,” said Ali Ahmad, Daud’s brother.

“We left at ten o’clock at night, and when I saw him at the forensic medical clinic at eight in the morning, he was in pieces and could not be bathed,” said Abdullah, another brother said.

“He used to go to work in the morning and return at six in the evening. I called him many times last night at six o’clock last night, but he did not answer,” said Mah Gul, Daud’s wife.

The Islamic Emirate’s Spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that investigations have started regarding the attack.

“The intelligence of the Islamic Emirate and the security institutions are trying to find these people and punish them for their actions. We assure our people that we will definitely pursue them and they will be punished,” Mujahid told TOLOnews.

This comes as Daesh claimed responsibility for the attack, in which seven people were killed and twenty others were injured.

Families of Blast Victims Call For Increased Security
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UN Chief Appoints New Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan

The UN said in a press release that Ratwatte has over 14 years of experience of working on Afghanistan and regional issues.

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on November 7 the appointment of Indrika Ratwatte of Sri Lanka as his new Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan.

The UN said in a press release that Ratwatte has over 14 years of experience of working on Afghanistan and regional issues.

Ratwatte succeeds Ramiz Alakbarov of Azerbaijan, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service.

“Mr. Ratwatte brings over 30 years of experience in humanitarian affairs and protection in complex and crisis settings, including over 14 years of working on Afghanistan and regional issues.  His most recent positions have included Director of the UNHCR Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, where he previously also served as Deputy, and UNHCR Representative in Pakistan,” the press release reads.

“It is expected that a person should be appointed as the UN Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan and Resident Coordinator in Afghanistan, who has a high level of knowledge about the humanitarian and economic situation of Afghanistan, and can identify the weaknesses, threats, opportunities, and strengths of this process,” said Shaker Yaqoobi, an economist.

Meanwhile, the deputy ministry of economy, Abdul Latif Nazari, said that they will continue to cooperate with UNAMA to help citizens.

“We will definitely have good relations with the new representative in the humanitarian and development sectors. We try to provide more facilities so that we can help the people of Afghanistan,” Nazari told TOLOnews.

According to the UN, Ramiz Alakbarov of Azerbaijan has 28 years of experience in executive leadership, strategic planning and policymaking, development programming and management, and humanitarian response.

Since 2020, Alakbarov served as Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) where he was also the UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator.

UN Chief Appoints New Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan
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ISIL claims Kabul bus attack targeting Shia Muslims

Al Jazeera

The ISIL (ISIS) group has claimed responsibility for a deadly bus attack targeting the Shia Hazara community in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul.

The blast in the Dasht-e-Barchi district, a Hazara stronghold, killed seven people and wounded 20, police said on Tuesday. The attack was the second targeting the oppressed community in recent weeks.

Security officials have begun investigating the incident, said police spokesman Khalid Zadran.

ISIL took credit for the attack, saying via its Amaq news outlet that it had “detonated an explosive device” on a bus carrying Shia Muslims, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

The group claimed a deadly explosion in a sports club in the same neighbourhood that killed four people and critically wounded seven in late October, according to Taliban authorities.

The number of bomb blasts and suicide attacks has reduced dramatically since the Taliban seized power in August 2021, removing the United States-backed government. However, a number of armed groups – including the regional chapter of ISIL- remain a threat.

Afghanistan’s Hazaras and other Shia Muslim communities have faced decades of abuse and state-sponsored discrimination, including by the ruling Taliban. The oppression includes arbitrary arrests, discriminatory taxation, displacement from their traditional territory, and summary executions, according to United Nations officials.

Afghanistan is estimated to have a population of some six million Shia Muslims, the overwhelming majority of whom are Hazara.

ISIL claims Kabul bus attack targeting Shia Muslims
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Bus Bombing in Kabul Kills 7 Afghan Civilians

Voice of America


Map highlighting location of Kabul, Afghanistan.
Map highlighting location of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Taliban officials in Afghanistan said Tuesday that a bomb blast ripped through a minibus in Kabul, killing at least seven civilians and wounding 20 others.

A police spokesman confirmed the casualties, saying the evening deadly bombing occurred in the western Dashti Barchi area, a predominantly Shi’ite Muslim neighborhood in the Afghan capital.

The spokesman, Khalid Zadran, said an investigation into the attack was underway.

The United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan denounced the bombing, saying it was the third attack in less than a month against members of the ethnic Hazara Shiite community.

“I urge a full, transparent investigation with a view to identifying perpetrators and holding them accountable,” Richard Bennett wrote on X.

No group immediately claimed responsibility, but suspicion fell on the regional branch of Islamic State, the Islamic State-Khorasan or IS-K.

The group has previously carried out and claimed attacks targeting Afghan Shi’ite processions, worship places, and schools in Kabul and elsewhere in the country.

Last month, IS-K carried out two bomb attacks targeting a gym in Dashti Barchi and a gathering of Shi’ite clerics in the northern Afghan province of Baghlan. The blast killed four people and 10 religious scholars, respectively.

The Taliban have conducted repeated counterterrorism operations against IS-K hideouts in the country since seizing power two years ago, killing several key IS-K commanders. But the group remains a critical security challenge for de facto Afghan authorities.

Bus Bombing in Kabul Kills 7 Afghan Civilians
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7 People Killed, 20 Wounded in Blast in Kabul

The security forces have arrived in the area.

At least seven people were killed and 20 others were wounded in a blast that targeted a transportation bus in the Dasht-e Barchi area of Kabul, Kabul security department’s spokesman, Khalid Zadran said.

The security forces have arrived in the area.

Earlier, the residents told TOLOnews that ambulances were carrying the victims to the hospital from the site of the blast.

Witnesses told TOLOnews that the number of casualties is expected to be higher.

“We were drinking juice in this shop, when a blast occurred. We then saw the ambulances were moving here. There was a crowd and the streets were closed for traffic. It looks like the casualties will be higher. The number of wounded is said to be 20, and 10 were killed,” said an eye witness.

“The sound of the blast was high and there were high casualties,” said an eyewitness.

No one has claimed the blast yet.

7 People Killed, 20 Wounded in Blast in Kabul
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UN Deputy Chief Reiterates UN’s Support for Afghan Women

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesperson said that women’s rights have been ensured in Afghanistan.

The UN Deputy Secretary-General has asked for attention to and an assessment of the restrictions on women and girls in Afghanistan.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the International Conference on Women in Islam, Amina Mohammed said that investment in girls’ education can ensure a bright future not only for girls but also for their respective families and neighborhoods.

“The Taliban’s harsh restrictions and denial of divinely granted rights must be addressed as a matter of urgency. By investing in the education of our girls, we are not just uplifting individuals; we are securing a brighter future for our families, our sisters, communities, and neighborhood,” said Amina Mohammed, the United Nations deputy chief.

Saudi Arabia’s capital, Jeddah, is hosting the International Conference on Women in Islam and Indonesia’s foreign minister, who is also taking part in the conference, said that the Asian Group asks the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to suspend engagement with Afghanistan as the country imposes restrictions on women and girls.

“The Asian Group calls on OIC … to suspend the engagement in Afghanistan spearheaded by ulema’s mission. We want access of women to education and all aspects of Afghan society. This will result in tremendous result for Afghanistan’s recovery programs,” said Retno Marsudi, Foreign Minister of Indonesia.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate’s spokesperson said that women’s rights have been ensured in Afghanistan.

“The issue of human rights particularly, the rights of women, have been resolved. The rights that have been given to sisters in Islam and Sharia, are the best rights which have never been seen elsewhere. We do have some problems in some areas which have not been addressed but these are exceptions,” said Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesperson for the Islamic Emirate.

The issue of women and girls continues to remain a hot topic between the international community and the Islamic Emirate since the latter came to power in August 2021.

Respecting the women and girls’ rights particularly rights to education and work is one of the preconditions for recognition of the Afghan caretaker government but the Islamic Emirate has always denied the claim.

UN Deputy Chief Reiterates UN’s Support for Afghan Women
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Cricket Gives a Nation Bowed by Violence a Reason to Stand Tall

Reporting from Pune, India

The New York Times

Afghanistan’s cricket team has won big games and many fans in an international competition, in a stark contrast to the pariah status of its government.
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The national flag they play under no longer exists officially. The anthem they stand for at the beginning of every game belongs to a republic that was toppled two years ago.

Yet Afghanistan’s athletes have become the unlikely — and widely celebrated — heroes of the Cricket World Cup that is underway in India. In a tournament followed by hundreds of millions of people across the globe, they have defeated the defending world champions and two former titleholders handily. Some of the team’s stars are so popular that entire stadium sections roar their name. When they win, players sing and dance from the dugout, to the team bus, to their hotel rooms.

The Afghan cricket team’s accomplishments are amplifying what has already been an astonishingly speedy rise in sports history. They also speak to the potential of a nation marked by frequent violent ruptures if it had a little bit of what this team has managed: continuity.

To play in this World Cup, the team has relied on delicate compromise, something that evaded Afghanistan’s political leaders and the many international stakeholders who failed to halt the country’s descent into a pariah state. The bizarreness of the circumstances is drowned out by the team’s success.

“People are praying for us at home, they are sitting for our matches, for us to win, because cricket is the only happiness in Afghanistan,” Rashid Khan, 25, one of the team’s biggest stars, told his teammates in a pregame huddle ahead of a victory last week.

He emphasized getting the basics right. But he underlined what was most important: “The biggest thing — keep smiling.”

In a country stuck in a spiral of gloom, even small celebrations feel like acts of defiance.

Since the Taliban takeover two years ago, Afghanistan’s aid-dependent economy has crashed, leaving nine out of 10 people in poverty. Nature has added to the misery with earthquakes that have wiped out entire villages, killing hundreds of people.

The Taliban regime — which restricts women to their homes, denying them the right to work or to an education beyond the sixth grade — is a government that is not recognized internationally. Its white flag does not feature in international sports competitions. Afghan teams play under the banner of the republic that fell in 2021.

The national anthem that is played before every game is also a relic. The Taliban do not have an anthem of their own because they consider public music forbidden by Islam.

But the Taliban cheer the cricket team’s success, and officials say they have assisted the team in achieving its current success. Fans in Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and other cities pour into the streets in celebration after every victory, and the rulers release celebratory messages even as they ignore the black, red and green brandished by the players and fans at the stadiums, and the renditions of the anthem.

In this environment, the players walk a tightrope. Mr. Khan and another of the team’s stars, Mohammed Nabi, have set up foundations that provide aid to the needy, rushing to help after the recent earthquakes.

Both have issued statements calling for restoring girls’ education.

“We stand in solidarity with our sisters and daughters of Afghanistan in demanding that the decision on high school ban for girls and university ban for women be reversed,” Mr. Khan said in a statement last year. “Every day of education wasted is a day wasted from the future of the country.”

Cricket has risen to prominence in Afghanistan only in recent decades. Some of the country’s earliest players learned the game at refugee camps in Pakistan, after fleeing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The earliest seeds of the game within the country date back to the last time the Taliban were in power in the 1990s.

A more formal setup was created in the early 2000s, and the team’s rise from there was nothing short of a fairy tale. In just about a decade, Afghanistan climbed through the ranks, and began qualifying for several global championships, including three World Cups.

“We learned cricket as refugees,” said Raees Ahmadzai, a former player who is the assistant coach of the World Cup team. “The new generation is our product. We trained them in Afghanistan.”

Raees Ahmadzai, top left, and Hamid Hassan, top right, are former players who are now helping train the new generation of Afghan cricketers already making a name for themselves, including Ibrahim Zadran, 21, bottom left, and Noor Ahmed, 18.

Winning the current competition, which is in the daylong version of cricket, remains a long shot for Afghanistan. But the journey of Mr. Khan, the team’s star, illustrates just how far Afghan cricket has come.

A decade ago, Mr. Ahmadzai said he and his teammates got a $3 monthly salary and a $25 daily allowance when they traveled.

Mr. Khan raked in $600,000 when he first started playing in the Indian Premier League, cricket’s most lucrative competition, in 2017, when he was 18. Last year, he was snapped up by a new franchise for nearly $2 million.

He is one of the most in-demand cricketers in the world, playing in leagues in Asia, Australia, the Caribbean and the United States as a bowler and batter. He has more than 13 million followers on social media. When he is on the field, a mere glance at the crowd elicits cheers and screams. When the Afghan team bus is on the road in India, motorcycle riders compete to pull up to his window for a wave or even a dangerous selfie.

During practice, when the team breaks for evening prayer, the team lines up behind Mr. Khan on a plastic mat rolled out in a corner of the stadium. When the team wins, he is the first to break into dance, leading the celebrations boombox in hand.Image

Mr. Khan’s pathbreaking celebrity has inspired an entire generation of younger players, some of them already playing at his side.

As the team traverses India for the tournament, a small band of supporters follows it, waving the old flag from the stands and dancing to D.J. music outlawed back at home. India has barred Afghans from entering the country since the Taliban takeover, making only rare exceptions. Those in the stands are longtime refugees, as well as many who went to India as students and are now stranded there.

After every match the team has won — first against England, the defending champions, then against Pakistan and Sri Lanka — the players have taken a victory lap around the stadium, thanking the Afghan fans and the thousands of Indian fans who cheer for them.

When the team defeated Pakistan two weeks ago, the celebrations were particularly long and loud. There was also a political undertone: In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Afghan refugees have been forced out by Pakistan, whose military has long been seen as contributing to the instability in Afghanistan.

To get to that game, one fan, Akhtar Mohammed Azizi, had taken a 10-hour bus ride.

“It was such a great moment that I forgot everything else — I could only think of positivity and happiness,” said Mr. Azizi, who has been stranded in India since completing his business degree. “I forgot the lack of sleep, the hunger. We celebrated, we danced, we took selfies with the players.”

During a break from celebrations, Mr. Ahmadzai, the coach, and Mr. Khan, the star player, recorded a video for their fans back at home. They recited a Pashto poem that has been the team’s rallying cry for years before returning to dancing — in the dressing room, on the bus, and late into the night in the team hotel.

“Pull up your sleeves, get in and dance/

The poor man’s happiness comes only now and then.”

Cricket Gives a Nation Bowed by Violence a Reason to Stand Tall
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