E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS
Mark Humphrey / AP
Afghanistan's Nesar Ahmad Bahawi carries his national flag during the Opening Ceremony at the 2012 Summer Olympics on July 27 in London.
KABUL – It’s not exactly Olympic fever in Afghanistan, but there is excitement in the air about the six athletes – including a female sprinter – who are representing the war-torn nation at the London Games. Cheering on their compatriots has given some in the country’s capital a welcome distraction from the summer heat.
Students at Kardan University in Kabul are in the middle of exams, but that hasn’t stopped many of them from carving out time in the evening to watch the Games.
“I really enjoyed watching the opening ceremonies. I felt so proud when I saw our country’s flag in the hands of our Afghans in the stadium. And they were the first country to come in after Greece!” said Mohammad Naeem Mamozai, who is studying English Literature.
“We are a country who has fought for more than 30 years, but when I see my country’s representation in that kind of event, it touches my heart,” he added. “We Afghans are not fans of war and we can also represent the better parts of life.”
The Afghan athletes do not have state-of-the-art facilities to train in, making it difficult to compete at the world level. But nonetheless, their countrymen are overjoyed to see them at the Olympic Games.
“I was watching our player in judo, but he lost in 10 seconds,” Muslim Khurram, a business major, said. “I was trying to call my friends to watch, but he lost before they could turn on their television sets.”
Khurram added that even if their players lose, Afghans are still proud because the Games have given them a sense of unity.
“When I go on Facebook now, I see posts from people who used to talk about politics and supporting various political groups now talking about our Olympic players and supporting them,” he said. “And they post ‘Long Live Afghanistan!’ I feel so proud when I see our Afghan flag. We should come together and be united. We should be supporting our country!”
For the first time ever, all 205 countries competing in the Olympic games are sending female athletes. NBC's Meredith Vieira reports and speaks with sprinter Tahmina Kohistani, the sole woman on Afghanistan's Olympic team.
Hoping to medal
Despite the judo defeat, Afghans still hope for a medal. Next week their best chance for Olympic accolades lies with 25-year-old Rohullah Nikpai, who will compete in the men’s taekwondo events.
In 2008, Nikpai brought home Afghanistan’s first ever Olympic medal – the bronze. He was greeted by an overjoyed nation.
This year one woman is on the Afghan team. Tahmina Kohistani, a 23-year-old sprinter, will participate in the 100-meter track and field events. She’s not expected to medal but her presence alone is seen as a victory by some of her countrywomen.
“It’s not important to me that she brings home a medal, I’m just happy for Afghanistan and especially happy an Afghan woman is participating in the London Olympics,” said Mehr Angiz, a female security advisor at Kabul International Airport.
“During the Taliban we were not allowed to come out of our homes, but today you see a lot of women working, like me,” she said. “In the future, I hope a lot more women will join sports, like [soccer], volleyball and maybe even a women’s cricket team.” (Cricket is not an Olympic sport at the moment).
Kohistani competed in her heat Friday for the 100-meter track and field events. She finished in 14.42 seconds, a personal best for Kohistani, but not enough to move her into the finals.
The games are being broadcasted by local television channel SABA-TV who won the rights to distribute the coverage in Afghanistan. The channel said they were not able to set up public viewings of the games for security reasons, but they have still received positive feedback.
“The feedback from people has been very good,” said Abdul Waheed Hamidi, managing director of SABA-TV. “People have been calling and telling us that they appreciate our service. Not just by phone, but we were also getting emails and Facebook messages about our broadcast.”
It is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset and focus on spiritual cleansing – not sports. But that hasn’t stopped some from breaking the fast while watching the Games on TV after the sun has set.
NBC’s Akbar Shinwari contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
- Medals for poets, painters? Not at this Olympics but...
- Images: The lives of Syrian rebels fighting for freedom
- Palestinian official under fire over Auschwitz visit
- Obama authorizes secret US support for Syrian rebels
- London's funny, zip-lining mayor taken very seriously
- US: Leaders' deaths put al-Qaida on 'path of decline'
- Good, bad or ugly? Street artists weigh in on Olympics
- Chinese defend swimmer's gold, know Western bias
- Karzai: a 'prisoner in his palace'?
Leave a Comment:
It is great to see this country included and compete in the olympics. I know a lot of the afghan war was about 9/11, but it was also about allowing a country to rise above opression from it's own people. Glad to see the women make an entrance on a world stage in a positive light.
I totally agree. This is a very good thing for the Afgan Olympians and the country of Afganistan.
It's not surprising that they are producing world-class sprinters. Dodging drones must be good practice.
It does not take much time for these people to change their tunes and march backwards to their seventh century desert and tribal days.
Then there are new types of songs and dances!
Good for them! May they compete in many, many more Olympic Games.
Thats great they are competing w/the rest of the world.Maybe not winning them all, but being proud as a people.I bet if they had camel and goat races, theyd kick some butt!
Glad to see our tax dollars funding a positive pursuit for Afghans
I am glad they are in the Olympics too. Maybe more people should show they are happy for them, I guess that will make them feel good and be more encouraged, after all, they have to face a life most of us doesn't have to, also to let them know that people from different parts of the world care about them.
They should be proud. I hope this opportunity helps inspire more young Afghanis to follow such positive and uplifting dreams.
Sounds like everything is fixed now.
Hope + Afghanistan.
Funny.
Not funny! Wreck and dumps!
Glad to see something does, other than that, the place is a waste of space warzone. Who would want to live there?
all people need hope. it is what can alter the corse of history... it can galvenize a people to want a better life. afgans need to let there women be strong and loose there insicurities and control issues. it will make there country a better place and help stop the fighting. when women are storng, so are there families,there men and there society.
No, real bad idea. The US did that, and now divorce rates have skyrocked. You can't even go one football game without hearing about the garbage needing to go out, or something about her day. Then there is talking about feelings, as if anyone wants to talk about that.
Chirs:
That is your experience. It doesn't mean that this is indicative of everyone's experience.
My husband and I have been married for ten years. We both enjoy football, and if he tries to talk during a game it's usually me telling him to hush. Push comes to shove, we watch in separate rooms (I'm Giants, he's Ravens.) Despite all that, I can't imagine being married to anyone else, and while he can be such a Polack sometimes, I know there are times when I can be equally frustrating. Instead of focusing on how frustrating your partner is for you, why don't you figure out what is frustrating your partner and see if it might not be a valid argument?
ps, any nation that puts down and abuses its women show there is nothing they will not do and should be put down like a raybeed dog. if they can do that to there own sisters,mothers and wives they are truely evil.
It is beyond all fixes because of their religion and tribal attitudes and actions based on them!
lol, 3rd world countries at the Olympics are a joke. Any country with a piss poor humanitarian situation, shouldn't be allowed at an event that (supposedly) supports the world coming together.
jrt: And if the people who live in those countries can't compete at an event like this, if they can't see for themselves what the advantages are for them to adopt a more Westernized way of thinking, then how will things ever change?
A recent article here said that only about 30% of Afghanis can even read their own language. Once you know that, you an see how easy it is for their religious leaders to tell them that their holy book says x when it really says y and z, and thus keep them in line with no freedom of thought.
By allowing them to compete at events like the Olympics, they can see what the Western world is really like. We aren't the infidel their priest/imam says we are, we are people, just like them. We laugh, we cry, we bleed, we rejoice.
Do you not think that somewhere in Afghanistan a little girl is sitting in her house watching for the first time as a gymnast flies through the air? Do you think that she, too, might someday want to do that too, be able to fly like our girls do? And if these little girls want it that bad, they too someday will bring about this hope and change in their country and maybe she, or her daughter,or her granddaughter, will someday be standing on that medal podium, showing the males of their country that a woman can bring her country honor just as a man can.
It is a symbol of hope, and an indication that perhaps our efforts there aren't a waste; that good can come of war, that freedom and liberty can be found on the other side of conflict.
This is the Olympics, nothing to do with politics, nothing to do with hate, nothi9ng to do with one's monetary status, it is about people, REAL people, common citizens all gathered together to watch the world's finest athletes compete and cheer their favorites on. Win or lose it is an honor to compete in the Olympics.
Amen.
The minute i saw that flag i was so proud to be an afghan as usual .as we all know that afghanistan has passed and still going trough some challenges, i was at work and i was watching my flag pass by felt so awesome that i forgot that i am living in USA for a minute i was in my dusty roads that i have;t seen in many years ,even if we don't bring any medals home won't matter, our presence is a message to the rest of the world that we don't love war we want to put an end to it .there is a lot to write but with wishing for the best interest of country ill end my comment .
"And they were the first country to come in after Greece!” said Mohammad Naeem Mamozai, who is studying English Literature."
One example of imagining from one's own hell hole. Islamic hell hole is the worst of all!
Followers of Islamic cult, especially Sunni Saudi inspired Islamic radicals and militants (al-Qaida, Salaffi, Wahhabi, Taliban, MB and other label ones), are fast marching backwards to their seventh century desert tribal days.
They are indulging in rapings, lootings, killings and genocides of non-Muslims (Darfur, S. Sudan, Nigeria and spreading like wild fire in many regions and Muslims (Mali, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other places).
Sunni Saudi backed Salaffi and MB new chapters are opening up in Egypt. Just watch the fate of Christians, women and Israel as the time goes by.
If these things happen in 21st century, I don't see much hopes!
pass the tissue......NOT. If you don't have state of the art equip. take it up with your country. Go U.S.A. , U.S.A...