Mambo

I started Kabul Buzkashi Team 18 months ago with 3 other commanders: Haji Abdul Rashid, Emir Ibrahim and Haji Aminullah. This was the first time ever that Kabul had its own buzkashi team. There had been other parties competing in Kabul before, mainly Marshall Fahim (Pansheer) and Hamid Karzai, but there was no official Kabul team.

We now have one. We keep our horses in the Ghazi stadium, which hosted many of the historical events that marked Afghanistan along the twentieth century. Last year, we played almost every Friday against Fahim and Karzai. While we defeated Karzai most of the time, we were never able to withstand the assaults of Fahim. His tall horses were too strong for us…

Although I had already played buzkashi in the past, I realized how tough it was to play match after match. If not injured, a couple of days are necessary to recover from a game. I also discovered that the team spirit was almost inexistent. Indeed, although the riders are split into teams, the reality of the game is much more of a free-for-all. On top of that, I had to make myself accepted as a foreigner, which is not easy. Alone with my horse...

The season is just about to begin again. We are reshuffling the cards and making new battle plans. The training is on and the tension is growing.