Bats not boats for Afghanistan

10 September 2013

In July, former prime minister Kevin Rudd, speaking at the launch of the Cricket World Cup 2015 in Melbourne, said he hoped the Afghanistan cricket team would qualify for the tournament to be held in Australia and New Zealand. He had just returned from a visit to troops in Afghanistan and saw some Afghan children playing cricket. Cricket, he said, can have an uplifting effect.

'When I see the young kids of Afghanistan taking up a bat and ball in the middle of nowhere and the difficulties which that country we all know experiences, it actually causes your heart to beat a little faster and think actually there's some good stuff going on here.'

As an Australian working in Afghanistan, I am seeing firsthand the value of the game in this country.

Afghanistan is one of the 'youngest' countries in the world according to the United Nations, with about 70 per cent of the population being under 30. After more than 30 years of war, this points to another sad reality: almost three quarters of the population have never known peace in their lives.

The violence continues and Afghanistan rates very badly on every global social indicator. Little wonder that many young people hold little hope for the future and look beyond Afghanistan for more secure lives.

The growth of the game of cricket, from almost nothing 12 years ago to international successes today, is having extraordinary effects. It is giving the international community a different picture of Afghanistan, without bombs and violence, showing the skill, hopes and commitment of young people. More importantly, it is having a huge impact upon the population, giving them a cause for pride, joy and celebration.

Cricket has become much more than just a game here, it is something that is uniting the country in a way that nothing else has for years. It is the largest peaceful movement and, by far, the biggest movement of young people. The game is tremendously popular everywhere, not only in the cities but even amongst Afghan kids, as Rudd saw, 'in the middle of nowhere'.

The largest gatherings of people in Afghanistan today are the crowds at cricket matches with 15 to 20 thousand people regularly gathering to cheer. A parliament member, watching a cheering 15,000 strong crowd at a match in Kabul recently, said 'Nothing has ever brought us together like this.'

The Rudd Government reportedly spent $240,000 on its two-week campaign in Afghanistan and Pakistan,

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Bats not boats for Afghanistan

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