Afghans dump team after asylum bid
KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- Afghanistan has disbanded its national soccer team after nine players disappeared from a training camp in Italy last week, an official said on Tuesday.
Six were arrested in Germany after seeking asylum and will be returned to Kabul where they can expect to be punished for "damaging Afghans' honour."
Halim Kohistani, head of Afghanistan's football federation, confirmed: "We have scrapped the team and plan to bring in new players instead after their shameful act."
He added: "Italy has promised to hand over to us six of them who were arrested in Germany and we will punish them 100 percent when they return, after consulting the police and the court."
A series of games planned in Italy, the Afghan team's first appearance in Europe for 20 years, was aimed at raising money for Afghan orphans, Kohistani said.
Although nearly 25 years of war and occupation ended with the collapse of the Taliban in 2001, the country remains impoverished and racked by violence from militants and warlords.
The last time an Afghan athlete sought asylum was during the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 when boxer Mohammed Jawid Aman was allowed to stay.
