KABUL: Hissing like a quiver of angry cobras, a group of young Afghan mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes shadow box in a Kabul club despite the uncertain future of the sport after a Taliban government ban on professional competitions.
Late last month, the Taliban authorities banned the sport in professional competition calling it too “violent” and “problematic with respect to sharia,” in the latest restriction based on their interpretation of Islamic law implemented since they swept to power in 2021.
“Initially, when a friend told me that MMA has been banned in Afghanistan, I didn’t believe but when I reached the club, all my friends were gutted, and obviously I was too,” 21-year-old Khalil Rahman said.
Rahman had ambitions to “raise Afghanistan’s flag high in the world,” through international MMA competitions, but now that professional bouts have been canceled, he and other trainees at the well-equipped private gym in eastern Kabul worry their days in the octagonal fighting cage are numbered.
For now, training and amateur competitions have continued with protective gear, leaving MMA enthusiasts in limbo, uncertain of the exact rules in the order from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
The state sporting authority was not immediately available for comment, but a source from the organization confirmed to AFP that the order text “was vague about what actually has been banned and the general directorate of sports and physical education has requested clarity.”
But Rahman is already thinking of trying to leave the country to follow his pro MMA dreams abroad.
His fellow trainee Mohammad Waseem Qayumi is holding out hope he can keep up with the sport at an amateur level.
“Initially, it made me sad when MMA was banned,” he said, sweating after punching and kicking through the training session.
“Then I thought if free fighting (without safety gear) is banned, that’s OK, I will put on headgear and other safety equipment and will continue to freestyle with my fighting.”
Qayumi was inspired by the growth of the sport in the country in recent years, as he saw Afghan athletes taking part in international competitions on popular MMA platforms like the US Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
A number of non-Afghan Muslim fighters have won world titles and enormous purses on the international stage, including Russians Khabib Nurmagomedov and Islam Makhachev.
“The people of Afghanistan are fighters, and this sport is also a fight, where you can kick and punch freely, that’s why people like this sport,” Qayumi said.
The Taliban government has not been recognized by any other state, complicating sports teams’ participation in international arenas, but athletes from other countries have recently been welcomed to Afghanistan for competition.
The authorities have also effectively banned women from sports and male athletes have been ordered in a new morality law to cover their bodies from the navel to the knee.
Bilal Fazli, who trains in a club based in a dark basement in the southwest of the Afghan capital told AFP he was disappointed to see an immediate drop in the number of trainees coming to the club after the ban.
“All the boys were frightened... The government could have done a better job by working on other important things such as helping the poor than banning sport,” the 21-year-old said before punching his trainer’s gloves hard in frustration.
“I don’t know what to do, we don’t have jobs and if we can’t even have the sports of our liking, maybe we will leave this country.”

NEW DELHI: India’s Supreme Court granted bail on Friday to opposition leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in a graft case, paving the way for his release almost six months after he was arrested.
Kejriwal’s release is expected to boost the morale of his decade-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as it will allow him to campaign in regional elections next month in the northern state of Haryana, where AAP is trying to make inroads, and in Delhi early next year.
Kejriwal was first taken into custody in March by India’s financial crime-fighting agency, weeks before the country’s national elections, in relation to alleged irregularities in the capital city’s liquor policy.
Although he was granted bail in that case in July, he remained in detention due to his arrest a month previously by the federal police in a graft case related to the same policy.
Kejriwal, 55, and AAP deny the allegations and say the cases are “politically motivated.”
Ordering Kejriwal’s release, Justice Surya Kant said that the issue related to “liberty” and “prolonged incarceration” could not be justified.
The two-judge bench was split, however, on Kejriwal’s appeal challenging his arrest, with Kant holding it lawful while Justice Ujjal Bhuyan said the timing raised serious questions.
The federal police “must not only be above board but must also be seen to remain so ... in a functional democracy governed by the rule of law, perception matters,” Bhuyan said.
In its first reaction following the verdict, AAP said, “Truth can be troubled, but not defeated.”
Opposition parties have been demanding Kejriwal’s release, saying his arrest was an attempt by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to deny them a level playing field in the polls, charges denied by Modi and BJP.
Other countries, including the US, had urged a “fair” and impartial trial.
On Friday, BJP said bail to Kejriwal did not mean he was innocent.