Photo: Salampix / Abaca / Abaca Press / Profimedia
The Taliban government in Afghanistan added chess on the list of forbidden activities, considering it, to new orders, a form of gambling that contravenes the law on morality, an official for France Press, quoted by News said on Sunday.
Chess “is considered a means of betting money”, which is forbidden by the law for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice (PVPV) adopted last year, said AFP Atal Mashwani, the spokesman for the Sport Directorate.
Given the “religious problems”, “Chess will be suspended in Afghanistan until these problems are solved,” added Atal Mashwani, without specifying the sanction for a possible violation.
Azizullah Gulzada, 46 years old, the owner of a cafe in Kabul where customers used to enjoy the game, says he will apply the prohibition, but is not convinced of the religious arguments. “Many Muslim countries have world -class players participating in international matches,” he told AFP. “Many (young people) used to come here every day, without betting any money,” he added, regretting that they now have fewer reasons to meet. “People who are passionate about chess are probably sad,” he added.
After the power to regain power in 2021, the Taliban authorities gradually imposed their extremely rigorous vision of Islam, banning certain activities and sports. In 2024, the competitions of MMA (mixed martial arts) were forbidden, the government considering them too “violent” and “problematic from the point of view of the law of Sharia”, while the cricket is still widely played, but only by men.
The women were progressively ostracized by the Taliban, who forbade their access to parks, sports halls, beauty salons and universities, which caused the UN to denounce “gender apart”.
