Taliban suspends chess in Afghanistan over playing considerations

The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan has banned chess till additional discover attributable to fears the sport is a supply of playing.

Officers stated the sport has been prohibited indefinitely till its compatibility with Islamic regulation will be decided.

Chess is the most recent sport to be restricted by the Taliban. Girls are basically barred from taking part in sport in any respect.

Since seizing energy in August 2021, the Taliban has steadily imposed legal guidelines and laws that replicate its austere imaginative and prescient of Islamic regulation.

On Sunday, Atal Mashwani, the spokesman of the Taliban authorities’s sports activities directorate, stated chess in Islamic sharia regulation is “thought of a method of playing”.

“There are spiritual concerns concerning the game of chess,” he advised AFP information company.

“Till these concerns are addressed, the game of chess is suspended in Afghanistan.”

One cafe proprietor in Kabul, who has hosted casual chess competitions in recent times, stated he would respect the choice however it could damage his enterprise.

“Younger individuals haven’t got a variety of actions today, so many got here right here on a regular basis,” Azizullah Gulzada stated.

“They’d have a cup of tea and problem their buddies to a recreation of chess.”

He additionally famous that chess is performed in different Muslim-majority international locations.

Final yr, the authorities banned free combating comparable to blended martial arts (MMA) in skilled competitors, saying it was too “violent” and “problematic with respect to sharia”.

“It was discovered that the game is problematic with respect to Sharia and it has many points that are contradictory to the teachings of Islam,” a Taliban spokesperson stated final August.

MMA competitions have been successfully outlawed in 2021 when the Taliban launched laws prohibiting “face-punching”.