The circumstances of Naveed Ahmad’s life have imposed many restrictions on the impoverished Afghan teenager. He cannot journey overseas, pursue his dream of getting a college diploma, and even afford to eat out with mates.
However the one factor the19-year-old by no means misplaced entry to was his favourite sport and past-time: Chess.
Till now.
Among the many dozens of restrictions the Taliban have imposed on its residents, the current adoption of a measure banning chess attributable to “non secular concerns.”
“As somebody who loves enjoying chess, I used to be very, very upset that chess has been banned in Afghanistan,” mentioned Ahmad, talking by cellphone from his native province of Kunduz within the nation’s north.
“I’ve all the time dreamt of collaborating in chess tournaments and hoped that at the very least I’d journey to varied provinces to play chess,” mentioned Ahmad, who has performed chess because the age of 10.
The Taliban’s sports activities directorate mentioned it was suspending chess till the additional discover over considerations that the game encourages playing, which is banned in Islam.
The state company’s spokesman Atal Mashwani advised reporters in mid-Could that chess would stay suspended throughout Afghanistan “till these concerns are addressed, the game of chess is suspended in Afghanistan.”
Practically three months on, the Taliban authorities haven’t introduced if they’ve come to a closing choice.
RFE/RL contacted Mashwani for remark, however he didn’t reply to the requests.
The Taliban first outlawed chess throughout its earlier stint in energy that led to 2001.
The chess suspension provides to an extended listing of bans and restrictions that the Taliban has imposed on sports activities, arts, and different actions since returning to energy in August 2021.
In 2024, it banned combined martial arts (MMA), saying it’s too violent and poses the danger of dying. MMA had been vastly widespread amongst younger Afghans earlier than the Taliban’s return.
The ultra-conservative management additionally prohibited physique builders from displaying their thighs and ordered them to put on vast, lengthy shorts with hemlines reaching just under the knees.
Ladies, in the meantime, have been prohibited from all sports activities in addition to understanding in gyms. Even women-only health golf equipment have been closed by the Taliban.
The Taliban additionally has outlawed music on tv and radio and in weddings and public gatherings.
Chess Is Not Banned In Different Islamic Nations
Chess could not have the large following amongst Afghans that soccer or cricket have. But it surely nonetheless had been broadly performed – each as a sport and interest – throughout the nation.
In the course of the twenty years of the Western-backed authorities in Kabul, Afghanistan’s Chess Federation — which has additionally been suspended — continuously organized native and nationwide chess tournaments each for women and men. Many others performed chess as a pastime in eating places, parks, and personal gatherings.
Ismail Jamshidi, the previous head of the chess federation, condemned the Taliban for suspending a pastime that many Afghans name a “innocent” exercise.
“Chess is a sport, artwork, and science. Anybody who prevents individuals from enjoying it, commits an atrocity in opposition to sports activities, artwork, and science,” Jamshidi advised RFE/RL.
Chess will not be banned in another Muslim-majority nations, together with Saudi Arabia and the world’s most-populous Muslim nation, Indonesia.
Iran briefly banned chess after its Islamic revolution in 1979 over considerations that it inspired playing and that it went in opposition to Islamic values. However the ban was lifted in 1988 on the situation that chess shouldn’t be used for playing functions.
For now, Ahmad wistfully talks about dropping with out even making a gap transfer. A minimum of, he says, he can nonetheless play it on a cell phone software.
