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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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UN expert calls for comprehensive, rights-focused action plan for Afghanistan
A UN expert on Friday called on the international community to devise and implement a comprehensive, human rights-centered action plan to address the human rights crisis in Afghanistan.
“The absence of a unified, forceful response from the international community has emboldened the Taliban (IEA),” UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, said.
In his latest report to the UN General Assembly, Bennett said that the human rights situation in Afghanistan is worsening, which includes systematic gender oppression, amounting to gender persecution and which many Afghans term “gender apartheid” with intergenerational implications.
Bennett expressed concern about the new “vice and virtue” law, announced in August, which he believes has institutionalized an expanding list of restrictions that “blatantly violate the rights of women and girls.”
He also expressed concern about the “shrinking civic space” in Afghanistan, the situation of minorities, journalists, and former government officials and security personnel.
“Justice, equality, and the rule of law are being systematically undermined,” he said.
The UN expert also called for increased funding and support for Afghan civil society and humanitarian efforts to mitigate the crisis.
Bennett urged the IEA to reverse its “repressive policies” and reinstate basic human rights. He pressed the international community to take a coordinated, multifaceted approach to support the Afghan people.
Bennett urged states not to normalize relations with the IEA until there are demonstrable human rights improvements and pathways to justice and accountability.
This comes as the Islamic Emirate has said that it is committed to ensuring human rights, including the rights of women and girls, according to Sharia, and this is an internal issue of Afghanistan.
The Islamic Emirate has banned Richard Bennett from traveling to Afghanistan, saying that he exaggerates small issues.
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If world wants to reduce poverty, it is better to start from Afghanistan: deputy agriculture minister
Addressing an international forum in Beijing, Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock, Sadr Azam Usmani, said on Thursday that if the world wants to reduce poverty, it is better to start from Afghanistan.
Usmani emphasized that Afghanistan is now a secure country and its agriculture, mining, industry, and trade are growing.
“Let's invest in Afghanistan so that we can help not only Afghanistan but also one billion people in the world who are currently living in poverty,” he said at the 2024 Global Poverty Reduction and Development Forum.
Usmani also pointed to the ban on poppy cultivation in Afghanistan, saying that 20 years ago, Afghanistan was known as the largest producer of opium, but the Islamic Emirate reduced poppy cultivation to zero and now farmers are cultivating halal crops.
“If you want agriculture to grow, come invest in Afghanistan's agriculture sector and help Afghan farmers by implementing alternative livelihood programs, because poppy is a problem that affects not only Afghanistan but the whole world,” he said.
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Trump would be less likely to focus on human rights in Afghanistan: US expert
He believes that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) might be more inclined towards a Trump administration.
Michael Kugelman, a US-based foreign policy expert and the Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, has said that Donald Trump, as president, would be less likely to focus on the state of women’s education and human rights in Afghanistan.
Kugelman noted that it was in Trump’s previous tenure that the US negotiated the deal to pull out its troops from Afghanistan, and Harris was part of an administration that supported and enforced the decision, Anadolu Agency reported.
He believes that the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) might be more inclined towards a Trump administration.
“With Afghanistan, I think the Taliban (IEA) will be okay with whoever wins, but may lean a bit more toward wanting to see a return of Trump. But in the end ... it could live with whoever wins the election,” he said.
Trump as president, he explained, would be less likely to focus on the state of women’s education and human rights in Afghanistan.
“The key question for the Taliban (IEA) becomes which president would be more likely to want to look into the possibility of scaling up assistance to Afghanistan, particularly assistance for development, with Trump more inclined to look into financing opportunities,” he said.
However, he cautioned that, at the same time, Trump would not want to start violating US sanctions and giving aid to the Afghan government.
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