They carried bats, not weapons. They travelled to play cricket, not to wage war. Yet three young Afghan cricketers, Kabeer, Sibghatullah, and Haroon, were killed in a Pakistani airborne atack along the border in Paktika province. According to an report, they were among eight Afghan civilians killed when Pakistan launched cross-border strikes despite an agreed ceasefire.
They had just finished a friendly cricket match in Sharana and were returning home to Urgun. There were no military camps, no insurgent hideouts, only tired players and local villagers. Pakistan knew that. And still, it fired.
Pakistan claims “self-defence” every time it crosses Afghanistan’s airspace. But the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB), in an official statement, called this strike exactly what it was-
“a cowardly and unforgivable act carried out by the Pakistani regime.”
This was not a battlefield kill. This was a peacetime execution.
Statement of Condolence
— Afghanistan Cricket Board (@ACBofficials) October 17, 2025
The Afghanistan Cricket Board expresses its deepest sorrow and grief over the tragic martyrdom of the brave cricketers from Urgun District in Paktika Province, who were targeted this evening in a cowardly attack carried out by the Pakistani regime.
In… pic.twitter.com/YkenImtuVR
They Bombed During a Ceasefire
What makes this massacre even more grotesque is timing. The strike occurred during a 48-hour ceasefire, agreed upon to support ongoing Doha negotiations. Afghan media outlets reported that Pakistan itself had requested the truce, only to use it as cover for airstrikes in Urgun and Barmal, known residential areas. Once again, Pakistan proved that its signature tactic is deception wrapped in diplomacy.
Cricketing World in Mourning And Fury
Afghanistan immediately withdrew from the triangular series with Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Because how can you shake hands with the state that just bombed your teammates?
Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s T20 captain, condemned the attack publicly, calling it “a crime against every code of humanity” and declaring he “refuses to play Pakistan while our boys are being buried.” (Source: Rashid Khan on X)
Mohammad Nabi called the victims “symbols of Afghan hope, not collateral damage,” urging global cricket bodies to acknowledge the injustice.
Fazalhaq Farooqi asked the most painful question of all-
“Why does Pakistan fear our youth more than our armies?”
State Terror, Not Security
This is not an isolated incident. Pakistan has a history of targeting Afghan civilians under the guise of counter-terror operations:
- April 2022: Pakistani airstrikes in Khost and Kunar killed over 47 civilians, including women and children.
- 2023 Strikes in Nangarhar: Farmers and livestock herders hit in so-called “anti-militant” operations
- Now, 2025: Village cricketers.
The pattern is clear: when Pakistan cannot control Afghanistan, it punishes Afghanistan. It bombs not soldiers, but symbols. Weddings, schools, now cricket grounds.
Pashtun Witnesses: “This Was a Message, Not a Mistake”
In Paktika, villagers gathered around the cricketers’ coffins. One elder told local media:
“Our boys carried bats. Pakistan sent jets. Do they fear our games that much?” On social platforms, Pashtun writers are blunt: “Pakistan does not bomb terrorists. It bombs Afghanistan’s future.”
This wasn’t just a strike. It was a message, a warning to Afghan youth: Do not rise. Do not dream.
The Real Fear: A Confident Afghanistan
Why does Pakistan strike athletes? Because cricket has become Afghanistan’s global soft power, a nation once known only for war now known for world-class spin bowlers. Every the boundary on international soil is a moral defeat for Pakistan’s ideology. Bombing cricketers is not about border disputes. It is about crushing national pride.
Silence Now Is Complicity
So far, no major international cricket board has officially condemned this attack. The ICC remains silent. Western media passes it off as a “border incident.” But how can the death of athletes under bombs be anything less than state-sponsored terror? If bombing children is war, then bombing cricketers is the assassination of hope.
Final Over
The coffins of Kabeer, Sibghatullah, and Haroon were carried through the same fields where they once struck sixes. Their bats lie unbroken, but their nation’s patience does not. Pakistan did not just kill Afghan athletes. It killed the illusion that sport could survive alongside terror.
When a state bombs cricketers, it bombs humanity itself. And humanity must finally decide whether it will speak- or remain silent beside the killers.
