Afghans hope Pakistan-Afghan football match to bridge trust gap

Pakistan has become the first country to send its National Football Team to Kabul to play an international match in the war-torn country in nearly 36 years.

Afghans have attached hopes that the friendly match would bridge trust gap between the two uneasy neighbours.

Pakistani team reached Kabul on Monday and is set to play match with Afghan National Team Tuesday, organizers say.

Organizers expect the “Afghanistan-Pakistan Friendship Football Match” will be seen an effort to give a boost to sports in Afghanistan as international players are reluctant to travel to Afghanistan over security concerns.

The match will be played ahead of the first match of the 2013 Roshan Afghan Premier League (RAPL) on August 22, Nick Pugliese, Media Officer, Roshan Afghan Premier League says.

Afghan Cultural Attaché at the Afghan embassy in Islamabad, Zardasht Shams said Afghans are thankful to the goodwill gesture by Pakistan to send its national team to Afghanistan for a friendly match.

“Both countries need more sports interaction to increase people-to-people contact and to promote sports activities,” Zardasht told The NewsPakistan.

An Afghan journalist Mehmood Kochi says that the people in the Afghan capital are happy to find an international team in their country at a time when international players are reluctant to play in Afghanistan.

Kochi said from Kabul via phone that Pakistan-Afghan friendly match could encourage other teams to visit Afghanistan.

Afghan coach Humayun Kargar says although the match is a friendly one, the event could help promote people-to-people contact and reduce tensions.

“We want to forge better ties between Kabul and Islamabad through sports links and thus bring the Afghans closer to their neighbours and the world at large,” he said at a recent news briefing in Kabul.

He hoped the match would help strengthen links between Afghan and Pakistani soccer federations and prepare footballers from the two nations for the upcoming South Asian championship in Nepal from August 31 – September 11.

“I am hopeful that the match will have a message of goodwill for the people of Pakistan and Afghanistan and their governments,” Kargar was quoted as saying in Kabul on Monday.

He said Afghan team will also visit Pakistan in March next year to play matches in Islamabad.

Organizers say all international standard and FIFA regulations will be applied in the match. Observers from Sri Lanka and Tajikistan have also been invited to witness the match. Afghan authorities have also invited the country’s athletes for the match.

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Posted by Tahir Khan on Aug 20 2013. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.