Key Points
Yet Afghanistan's athletes have become the unlikely -- and widely celebrated -- heroes of the Cricket World Cup that is underway in India..
To play in this World Cup, the team has relied on delicate compromise, something that evaded Afghanistan's political leaders and the many international stakeholders who failed to halt the country's descent into a pariah state..
"People are praying for us at home, they are sitting for our matches, for us to win, because cricket is the only happiness in Afghanistan," Rashid Khan, 25, one of the team's biggest stars, told his teammates in a pregame huddle before a victory last week...
Fans in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital, and other cities pour into the streets in celebration after every victory, and the rulers release celebratory messages even as they ignore the black, red and green brandished by the players and fans at the stadiums, and the renditions of the anthem...
After every match the team has won -- first against England, the defending champions, then against Pakistan and Sri Lanka -- the players have taken a victory lap around the stadium, thanking the Afghan fans and the thousands of Indian fans who cheer for them...
