Kandahar set to get a new ground

Mahmood Karzai, brother of Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai, has donated a large tract of land in Kandahar city for the construction of an international standard cricket stadium.

An agreement for the land was signed recently in Kandahar by Karzai and
Dr Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, Afghanistan finance minister and chairman of the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).

The land is located in the Aino Mina suburb of Kandahar where a new housing development has been taking place. Aino Mina is a gated community with new homes, newly painted three-metre-high cement walls and tree lined streets.

Dr. Hamid Shinwari, CEO of the ACB said after the signing, "Aino Mina is an ideal location for a cricket stadium in Kandahar. It is modern, has good facilities and good security. In the future we hope the stadium will attract elite international teams for matches in Afghanistan."

The ACB has divided Afghanistan into five cricket regions. Kandahar is the centre of the Boost Region which includes the provinces of Uruzgan, Helmand, Zabul, Nimroz, Heart, Farah and Ghor. The new stadium will be a focus for the continued development of cricket in all of these provinces.

"The region includes some of the less stable provinces in the country," Dr Shinwari said, "and the stadium shows our determination to develop cricket, despite the insurgency. Cricket has a many thousands of supporters in Kandahar and the region and the ongoing development of cricket, as well as the building of the stadium, is an important mean of building peace to the region."

Work has also begun on two other stadiums in the country, on in Kabul and another in Nangarhar. More stadiums are planned for other population centres across the country to cater for the huge surge in cricket's popularity in Afghanistan.

The ACB believes that his development, involving many thousands of people across the country, is a unique opportunity for development and peace building.