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Afghanistan’s Farooqi leads T20 World Cup pack so far with most wickets
Afghanistan’s next match will be against Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Friday, June 14.
Afghanistan’s Fazalhaq Farooqi is currently the top wicket-taker in the T20 World Cup 2024. With nine scalps from two games, Farooqi is leading the pack.
If Farooqi keeps on the same path, he will join fellow Afghanistan cricketer Mohammad Nabi as top wicket-taker at a T20 World Cup.
Nabi scooped his accolade at the 2016 T20 World Cup.
Twenty-three year old Farooqi, who hails from Baghlan, has risen to relative fame over the past few years, after having played his debut T20I in March 2021 against Zimbabwe in Abu Dhabi.
Farooqi’s monumental achievements in the Uganda and New Zealand matches are however a new take on Afghanistan’s original stance.
For years, the team’s blueprint was Mujeeb Ur Rahman with the new ball, Mohammad Nabi after the powerplay, and Rashid Khan later on. This was especially applicable to T20s.
The three played such a big role that Afghanistan became synonymous with spinners.
Of late, though, it is becoming more and more evident that Afghanistan are no longer just about their spinners.
For the second successive match at T20 World Cup 2024, Afghanistan’s victory was set up by their openers Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran, and left-arm seamer Farooqi.
In the first match against Uganda, Gurbaz and Ibrahim added 154 in just 14.3 overs to help Afghanistan post 183 for 5. Later, Farooqi dismantled Uganda with a career-best 5 for 9.
If one overlooked their performance by saying it came against an inexperienced side in Uganda, the trio did a repeat against New Zealand on Friday evening.
Apart from being playful, Farooqi is however, someone who is extremely confident in his ability as a bowler.
Talking about Farooqi’s bowling, skipper Rashid Khan said after Saturday’s match: “He is giving us the base we want. Especially in T20s, the powerplay is very important. And the way Farooqi has bowled in the last two games is amazing. He is a very skilful bowler.
“He still needs to improve a lot of things but once he understands how skillful he is, he is going to be very dangerous in future.”
Afghanistan’s next match will be against Papua New Guinea (PNG) on Friday, June 14.
The match starts at 5pm Kabul time and will be broadcast live on Ariana Television.
Fans can however tune in at 4.30pm to watch the pre-match show.
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Four members of one family killed in Helmand in Pakistan airstrike
The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.
Four members of a family were killed and seven others wounded in an airstrike in Safar area of Garmser district in southern Afghanistan’s Helmand province, according to local reports.
The family, originally from Ghazni province, reportedly operated a small restaurant in the area.
The bodies of those killed and the wounded were transported by helicopter to Ghazni province for burial and medical treatment, according to the reports.
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UNAMA acting chief visits Islam Qala border to assess support for returnees
UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.
Georgette Gagnon, UNAMA’s acting head, visited western Afghanistan, including the Islam Qala border crossing, to see firsthand UN efforts to support millions of Afghans returning from neighboring Iran and Pakistan.
Earlier this year, the UN launched a $529 million response plan aimed at assisting around 2.7 million Afghans expected to return from Iran and Pakistan between April and December 2026.
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Trump: Unlike Afghanistan, US took all equipment from Iraq
Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday compared the withdrawal of US forces from Iraq with the 2021 US withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying military equipment had been left behind in Afghanistan, while US forces leaving Iraq took their equipment with them.
Speaking at a White House event, Trump referred to the final departure of US-led coalition forces and equipment from Erbil Air Base in northern Iraq, which marked the end of the US military mission against Daesh in Iraq.
“I said, take a little longer. Take everyone. We left all of the equipment, if you remember, in Afghanistan. Everything was left behind,” Trump said.
“I said, ‘I want every screw taken. If there’s a screw lying on the ground, take it. If we have a canvas tent, take it.’ We took everything,” he added.
He also mentioned the August 2021 attack at Kabul airport that killed 13 US soldiers.
Trump said he had become acquainted with the families of the US service members killed in the attack and also highlighted those who were seriously wounded.
“What happened to those—to their children should never have been allowed to happen,” he said, adding that 48 wounded service members were severely injured and “never get mentioned.”
Trump said the withdrawal from Iraq marked the end of what he described as a costly military involvement, adding that he had set a clear mission and instructed commanders to complete it without allowing the US presence to become permanent.
The US military announced on Wednesday that its forces and equipment had completed an orderly departure from Erbil Air Base, formally ending Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq. The US-led mission began in 2014 to fight Daesh after the group seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. The US is continuing its counter-Daesh mission in Syria from a headquarters in Jordan.
Trump said the US had entered Iraq to fight the Islamic State and that the group no longer controlled a territorial “caliphate.”
“We came to fight a caliphate, and there is no longer a caliphate, so we are going home indeed,” he said.
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