Traditional wrestling continues as a Friday match in Kabul

By ELENA BECATOROS
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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Through billowing clouds of dust, two men circled cautiously before one lunged forward, grabbing each other’s clothes. After struggling for a while, he skillfully defeated his opponent. The scene takes place each week after Friday prayers in the vast Chaman-e-Huzori park in downtown Kabul, where men – mainly from Afghanistan’s northern provinces – gather to watch and compete in pahlawani, a traditional form of wrestling. Although the Taliban, who occupied Afghanistan in mid-August, had previously banned the sport when they ruled the country in the 1990s, pahlawani was exempt even then.