(Reuters) – The Sm 🙂 The net club, a gambling cafe in central Kabul, used to be a haven for the city’s youth: a day-to-day escape in a country where decades of war and economic unrest have darkened your prospects.
Now, with Afghanistan again under Taliban control, which banned most forms of entertainment during its previous government from 1996 to 2001, some fear the games could be eliminated.
“Unemployment has risen a lot in recent weeks … and we’re coming to play,” said student Ahmad Shoieb, sitting between plush sofas and big TV screens with football and wrestling games.
“What will we do if they close the game cafe?”
The Islamist movement has struggled to show a more conciliatory face to the world since it came to power on August 15, but there is still uncertainty about how it will govern.
He said cultural activities would be allowed, as long as they were not against the sharia and Islamic culture of Afghanistan.
When they last ruled Afghanistan, the Taliban banned television, most commercial music, and video games, and imposed public punishment on those who violated its rules.
The owner of the cafe, Ahmad Jawad, said many of his regular customers had been afraid to return, fearing the Taliban would attack the cafe and arrest or even lash out at patrons.
“Because of this, people’s interest in game cafes has diminished a lot and we have all suffered,” Jawad said.
He added that he had invested heavily in coffee, his family’s only source of income, and that he could struggle to find other jobs if he had to close.
(Written by John Geddie; Edited by Mike Collett-White)