Kabul’s sports stadium once used for executions.

(11 Dec 2001) 1. Wide pan external stadium 2. Close up stadium, Olympic rings 3. Sign outside stadium entrance 4. Men paying and entering stadium 5. Two shots team getting ready for football match 6. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Abdul Malek, football player for the Shoah Team: “If we wore shorts, they (the Taliban) sent us to the religion ministry where they had a list of punishments and they put us in jail for one week or twenty days.“ 7. Wide shot spectators 8. Close up man watching football match 9. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Abdullah Hadi, football player for the Maiwada team: “Yes, many times they announced to the people that there would be a football match, but then they would kill someone or cut off someone’s hands or legs. It was a very bad situation and the people were sad about it.“ 10. Various football match being played 11. Man being arrested after scuffle in stadium 12. Various people watching football match 13. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Abdul Malek, football player for the Shoah team: “They announced that there was a match for our team. We came with our bags, the Taliban were around the stadium. Unfortunately they brought people they said were killers and thieves into the stadium. They cut the hands off two of them and they shot the other one with bullets.“ 14. Wide shot amputee and baby daughter sitting outside house 15. Close up amputee man 16. Close up amputated leg 17. SOUNDBITE: (Dari) Milweis (no surname), double amputee “There was a chance if the Taliban was close to me and I could take his weapon I would have killed him or killed myself. That would have been better than what happened to me.“ 18. Close up amputated arm 19. Milweis’ baby daughter 20. Man walking with stick and turning round STORYLINE: Kabul’s sports stadium, used as a venue for executions and amputations under the Taliban, has been reopened for football matches. Teams are now competing for places in the local league. Football never disappeared under the draconian Taliban rule, but players were forced to wear long robes instead of shorts, and games were strictly controlled. Often, the promise of a football match would lure several thousand people to the stadium, only to find that a public execution or amputation had been scheduled by the ruling Taliban instead. Crowds of would-be football fans would be forced to watch. Now the only trouble here is that generated by the fans themselves, as seen in football stadiums all over the world. But for some the violence that came to characterise the stadium under the Taliban is hard to forget. This man lost his leg after stepping on a mine. He was then accused of being a thief by local Taliban leaders - a claim he strongly denies - and had his hand amputated at the stadium. Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: