Aljazeera. And. Hello and welcome again to 31 santamaria here on rewind were revisiting some of the best and most influential programs from more than a decade of documentaries in the aljazeera archive as well as bringing you news of how the story has moved on since. Like a 979. 00 the world woke up to news that the russian army had swept across the border into afghanistan in an attempt to prop up the communist government there followed 18 months of civil unrest after the Peoples Democratic party seized power in 178. 00 however the p. D. P. Is radical plans including land reforms and equality of the sexes as well as modernizing traditional islamic civil and marriage laws that all spawned a guerrilla Resistance Movement known as the mujahideen what followed was a decade of bloody civil war with pakistan in the United States covertly supporting the islam and rebels against russian backed government forces. It was the beginning of 4 decades of violence and unrest for that troubled country back in 2009 aljazeera sports presenter Andy Richardson discovered that the turbulence of those early years had had a surprising side effect here is proud to be an afghan. Co white isnt the most obvious of places for any cricketing story to begin but it was here in 2007 that afghanistan won their 1st ever continental trophy and theyre back here again in 2010 playing in another Asian Cricket Council event now 3 years ago 2028 was just starting to take hold of the cricketing world and wed heard reports that one emerging team in particular was pretty good at it that team of course was afghanistan. This was the moment back in 2007 when afghanistan thought theyd become asias inaugural 2020 champions was. In fact the chaos was just beginning the match was about to controversially be declared thats high 6 6 c. Thankfully for all concerned the bulk of the event had passed off in somewhat calmer 1st in. Afghanistan were it seems intent on getting hold of their 1st major trophy. All day you would love to play this game so there is no cause there. You have a good teams and not only the National Side we were all very good games as well i in the history about downforce you know this is the 1st time that i want to stand. There the country was. They were already learning how to celebrate this was the low key manner in which afghanistan marks their semifinal victory against the United Arab Emirates. The final was against oman and established force in asian cricket and it seemed every afghan living in kuwait was in attendance the match went down to the last ball armands batsman needed just a single run to tie the schools. Was. Now at this point it appeared the afghan scene had warned. That but on the sidelines some official forehead wrinkling had begun suddenly the results was in doubts and yet after a little more arithmetic and 4 tugging the match was declared a toy im on an afghanistan with joint champions. And not as a division i got his gun order in the credit of the doubt it going to mess out are very happy and this is that as opposed to up i go by like. The trophy may not have stayed around for long but afghanistans cricket team had a right. That was a change you know what pick it up a lot of support from the people i think there was 14000 people asking to watch the match or address that was that was 0 from the time that and the players one thing that we should need to win the straw moment he didnt get any traffic before that and then we get back to kabul afghanistan a lot of people come to our hotel and are just hearing that the players and this elaborate enough to that. People just left to play cricket and watched because of the casino to them whether that victory changed cricket in our country before that everyone said to us youre wasting your time the government wont support you guys people dont know about cricket theres no reason for you guys to play but when we won that too. Chinese peoples minds people saw that something good can come from cricket im ok that was a real turning point for them because that gave them a lot of confidence that they can beat any team in asia that has inspired them and now the only thing they want us to rein. Not being number 2. Is fantastic. The history of cricket in afghanistan is also a history of occupation and conflict the 1st recorded match in the country was between british soldiers back in the 19th century and the ongoing conflict means this side as yet supply an International Match in their own country but for the origins of this saying you have to go back to another war itself it afghan war of the 1970 s. And eightys. In 1979 the serviette army thank you geoff gonna stand. Hundreds of thousands of afghans sought refuge in neighboring pakistan. In the years that followed more than 3000000 afghans were forced over the border and into refugee camps. It was here that a generation of young afghans found themselves playing and watching a new game that was already a longest average passion in pakistan. That game was cricket. These days rice armont see another us mungo are key members of the afghanistan cricket same both were brought up in refugee camps near the shoah in pakistans Northwest Frontier Province that earliest cricketing memories seeing t. V. Pictures of the 992 world cup a tournament that was won by pakistan. I was in the bad a bear refugee camp when we 1st went there we used to play. Again thats like baseball but then came the 992 world cup and suddenly cricket was everywhere everyone was talking about it we all started playing and i became good very quickly i was in school and that charming to have when i was in the refugee camp and particularly. In pakistan when the 1902 world cup was in the in the park lost in that time. Everyone was happy the teacher was deliberately shot the whole pakistan in the world cup you say thats whats whats whats what of course slowly slowly will start to reckon with a tennis ball or maybe 5 or 6 years we played without shoes or without anything cricket and then the 50 or 45. 00 syndicate. Or that was small and big bow sikandar was part of the pakistan saying that 192. 00 world cup hes now the Asian Cricket Council man in afghanistan overseeing the Games Development and mentoring this court of law is 92 world cups and the discussion of race because that was a great inspiration you know from a captain who led from the front a team that responded so positively i was very fortunate to be part of the team that came back from no way to become the World Champion afghanistan when we has been at war for the last 30 years now they have seen nothing but war and then moving from a gun to stand to pakistan living in the refugee camps have made them really really tough and that is the toughness that is. Very evident in the matches that theyre playing they dont care about the bouncy beaches they dont care about turning pitches you know if its a bad pitch or bad conditions they dont care about that the only thing they know and they want to do is to a. Few players better embody that spirit than hamid hassan that seems fastest bowler he also led his cricket in a refugee camp he remembers the day a fellow player at sensitive convince his father it was time for the young can mate to start taking cricket seriously. It came to our home in places to my dad let them go home we need to plan for afghanistan and he says no i can let them go because he i want to make him a teacher like a doctor like ingenius or he dont want to play cricket and i said to my dad i love to play cricket. I. First time i went to run in 2003 to travel in a play cricket in 1st game i took 4 wickets. And also had some success in the matter. Everybody whos is going where he came from. This is the ground where he made 1st played in kabul right now its the only dress pitch in afghanistan but more are planned and it seems shared ambition is to one day play an International Match in their home country if you played. Against pakistan or against bangladesh or against any or full member country if he if he were to i dont if he certainly people im sure 100000 people will be come to watch the match cricket was yes played there but in a very small way now its the number one game in a gonna start and. That is taking them away from the streets. Where the only thing they knew was to carry guns and fight now instead of guns they killing cricket bats. This team has now carried their facts around the world. In cricket the name afghanistan is associated only with success and progress. But no one could have guessed just how good this side was about. Afghanistans cricket team was formally recognized by the sports world governing body in 2001 at the time they had no world ranking and no home ground like did have was a supremely talented generation of players and so began one of the most unlikely journeys in sporting history. The european Channel Island of jersey was afghanistans next stop with the financial backing of the international and Asian Cricket Councils the team were entered into division 5 of the World Cricket League the lowest tier of the international game. Fish are all called ball there certainly wasnt but a familiar scene was soon so unfold afghan cricketers celebrating a tournament win on foreign soil. For. More titles followed in asia africa even south america the refugee camps where it all began suddenly seemed a long way away before that human foot was that of the democratic a bike or Something Else of a go we had a coach who told us that cricket would give us the chance to see the world i thought he was crazy how could we ever go to europe or the rest of the world he told it to all of the players that. That respect the pads respect you were cant respect you would care respect you for your your all cricket equipment and you guys will be treated well by the way the reason africa do you will be see or. Doing that if you. Specially i will thing that the whole lord will be the same. The whole world miss him the same kind of how simple life you know to lose. You know into the we dont know about mentioning. They didnt you know how did you know it was good the only thing they knew was to just get on a donkey. Crossed the border into pakistan their attitude has changed. You know dead the warrior instinct is still there but its mellowed down a bit by now afghanistan had a full time coach overseeing their rise through the World Rankings former pakistan test player cabbie a car on board in push our work where most of the players had also started life there was an immediate bond sometimes ask them a question what is your dream what do you want to do and what will be your best moment and this is our best moment of her life has been our flag goes up and when our National Anthem isnt. Being played there in the studio they say if you love those more than me play for that there was some help as well or simply from. Coming here because in the game going to a losing rain came in some sometimes when you think badly Cayman Island and it would be trained only for 56 and i just was looking at. And ive never seen that in my life. By early 2010 the team had made it as far as dubai. And the final qualifiers for the t 20 world cup theyre defining game was against the United Arab Emirates one more win in a world cup place would be there as. The high stakes were reflected in some visibly nervy performances. The u. A. E. Scored just 100 runs in that 20 overs. Afghanistan who chased far bigger schools all over the. World but never with so much riding on the outcome. It was now that all their hard earned experience of life and cricket came together they held their collective nerve and the winning runs were scored with just 3 fourths to spare. Afghanistan were on their way to the world cup. The kept a no rules mungle told me that you should scratch me that im dreaming or know if you qualify for the world cup. So i said the rules mungo you qualify for the work i mean when you play in the work of. Scientists is getting ready to go to the t 20 world cup in the west indies afghanistan ranked as one of the 12 best sides in the world but i draw well that could hardly be toughened up against it 6007 World Champions india and one of the favorites to win the tournament south africa i think these 2 countries in the in the in the in the in my mind number one in number 2 in the morning and right now cricket bowling batting feeling everything is 100 percent but our players is very mature and they appeared in different conditions but we will be not easy for the. For india facade we give our top tank every single one of them and im hearing them when theyre talking among themselves they want to talking about winning the game our nation has all it wants to win the world cup thats another sometimes i take it as a pressure sometimes i think its good for the players as well because the players are not thinking about anything else they just werent thinking about winning. Games every member of the wider cricketing world has heard much but seeing little of afghanistan up to now that is all about such a huge racial and theyve gone from raw lots of coal in the polish diamonds terrific ambassadors for their game for their country and for the spirits of human success other countries have grounds theyve got facilities got nets they got bats and balls the equipment had nothing still has very little these cricket has represent the absolute pinnacle of their sport and their country. On may the 1st the caribbean island of solution will be the stage for afghanistans 1st world cup match against india. The Afghanistan Cricket Team on their own terms and in defiance of sporting logic will be standing side by side with the worlds best. 8 when you see other teams correcting their crowds their facilities and others and you think ok they have got a bit of edge on you but then if there were no laws in your book thats going to be another story but its still my hero and obviously i personally think that im proud of this team. Theyre doing for peace and we want to change the mind of the people that that was what is really bad and beyond that the whole country to come like like like the unity like we have in our team. We have not decided to legarda countries have us to know how ground kidneys nothing more centuries. And were just playing for our country and we replay for from hard for our country to represent our country. Proud to be an afghan from 2009 well what better way to catch up with this film than with 2 of its main players in the studio with us here Andy Richardson of course who created that film in 2009 and joining us from kabul as well weve got recent ones i know who you also saw there so gentlemen thank you so much for joining us do appreciate it and lets start with you what has become of this afghan team since 2009 im thinking about actually 29000 cricket world cup in england the 10 top teams in the world and afghanistans in amongst them its been an incredible story i mean we were really lucky to aljazeera really look at the chance across them if you like we went to a tournament in kuwait in 2007 and it wasnt covered afghanistan cricket and it was to cover the emergence of 2020 cricket and how important it was going to be for the future of developing cricketing nations but as soon as we got there to this tournament it was very quickly apparent it was one star team then that was afghanistan everybody was talking about them even though the tournament was being played in kuwait they had hundreds of expat fans all around the ground watching them and it was very quickly apparent that they were going to be the rising stars in this one its a to tell you that the teams they were playing in 2007 at the start of the film hong kong kuwaits malaysia no power omar qatar saudi arabia singapore and the u. A. E. Oh not the worlds greatest there is 190. 00 and theyre playing their part of the top 10 in the world so its been an incredible journey in the fact that from 2007 when we 1st found them they were in a world cup of tea 20 world cup within 3 years it shows you how much talent that Country House well lets bring rhys in then from kabul well what do you 1st of all tell us what youre actually up to these days im working with. I want to. Figured ward. I was i was. I took way retirement from the International Cricket in 2010 id become the after one year i became the head of Selection Committee and. Director of what is not a very good board and different position work with the junior level players work with the National Side but now our days im working with one in stand under 19 our team is a head coach race its on the head great to see young and now the need to 10 years ago. First of all the experiences you had 10 years ago when you were playing without emerging seen one of the key messages you try and give to Young Players now the specially the messages for the for the for the young generation and we are just feeling their way we start cricket with nothing to sell it is and im going to look lots of people have no idea whats cricket everyone was just saying that cricket is belong but when its on belong to pakistan because there are few people when they come from pakistan the people of kabul they were thinking that cricket is a pakistani game but there was no idea and now everyone knows about cricket cricket is really a popular game and we are and the young generation we are the of the are very lucky there are good good support from the family side the government supporting the cricket board is supporting so cricket is the number one sport and im going to stand all the youngsters want to play cricket so does cricket have a positive knock on effect for young people in fact for the whole country race when we think about afghanistan we think unfortunately about war and unrest does sports does cricket specifically have a positive impact there. Yeah were going to give you youre going to go to give a good name or 2 to understand i remember when i was the captain when we were going to do we had a match and i cant remember the exact name of the religion i think it was a link it was a very small village we had a cricket match there and the people of that really do as ive no idea about about im going to start there were just to do it just knew of what hes done because it just up war and he you mentioned at the start of this you talked about t 20 cricket 2020 cricket the short version of the game which is actually where all the money is now theres all these circuits all over the world and theyre at their cricket is making money have there been afghan players whove managed to get into that as well i think one of the really interesting things about afghanistan cricket and cricket is that the culture is immersion a very different way in every sense referring to it there we think of it is a game that is the product of british colonialism it was left as a legacy of empire if you like afghanistan cricket is merged in a completely different way and these guys 15 years ago were learning cricket in pakistan in refugee camps there was no legacy from from the english and as a consequence they learnt that cricket in a very tough way street cricket playing table cricket meant bowlers emerged of the world of the like no one had ever seen in the world and as a consequence now they are like gold dust amazing changes since 2000 and isnt it gentlemen great to have both of you with us. Thank you for joining us from kabul afghanistan to victory with us here in the studio and that is it for this week but do check out the rewind page out as they were dot com for more films from the series im Kemal Santamaria from the whole team thanks for joining us and well see you next time. Rewind returns with a new series and brand new updates on the best of aljazeera is documentaries resting. Easy and cheap just back to rewind continues with saving some wet eye seeing the light 10 years later a lot of you average person for a community in south africa is no better this is a great motivator for us to keep giving back to these communities on aljazeera around the world palatable and is a way to manipulate and influence us trolls brought us taking interest algorithms that a clean developed and designed to push content that says click me every click we make is a value thats sought after but for what and in the 3rd of a 5 part series is in mexico examining how propaganda and proper shape content all through the algorithm on a jersey. With a plummeting birthrate and families moving to the cities south koreas rural schools are shutting down one on one east meets the grandmas who is saving these schools while finally getting an education on aljazeera. Aljazeera. Where every. The u. K. Prime minister bars johnson Warns Parliament against passing a bill to prevent a no deal brags that he says that would give the e. U. Too much control. They would be able to keep us. In the e. U. Froze long as they want and all the times. From joe when im come on santa maria with the world news from aljazeera the United Nations says the United States and france may all be complicit in war crimes in yemen football fans about to get their 1st look at the official