Afghanistan cricketers to get rare exposure in Pakistan

Cricketers from war-torn Afghanistan will get the opportunity to play competitive cricket in Pakistan in the next few months.

An Afghani team will appear in Pakistan's domestic tournament later this year while a youth side will undertake a separate tour in September, the Pakistan Cricket Board said on Monday.

"We have accepted a request from the ACF (Afghanistan Cricket Federation) to allow their team to appear in one of our tournaments," PCB General Manager cricket operations Zakir Khan told Reuters.

"We are keen to help out the ACF's bid to once again promote cricket in Afghanistan."

A cricket academy managed by Pakistan captain Rashid Latif have also agreed to host a tour for the Afghanistan youth team in September to help them prepare for their first appearance at the Asia Youth Cup later this year.

Latif said his academy had arranged six one-day games in September.

Pakistan has been in the forefront of supporting cricket in Afghanistan and earlier this year allowed a team to take part in Pakistan's non-first class domestic tournament, the Justice Cornelius Trophy.

The ACF general manager Abdul Khalil said in his letter to the Latif academy that the ACF believed cricket could play an important role in helping rebuild the country.

"While peacekeeping forces and good government are obviously key ingredients in nation building in Afghanistan, sport and cricket can play an important role in helping rebuild the nation's social fabric," Khalil said.

Afghanistan has been torn apart by years of war since 1982 and is now ruled by a caretaker government under President Hamid Karzai after the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001 by a U.S.-led military coalition.