 Pakistan captain Rashid Latif is to manage an academy team that will play the Afghans |
Cricketers from war-torn Afghanistan will play competitive games in Pakistan in the next few months. An Afghan 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.
PCB general manager cricket operations Zakir Khan said: "We are keen to help out the Afghanistan Cricket Federation'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.
 Afghanistan is trying to rebuild after two decades of war |
"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 Taleban regime was toppled in late 2001 by a US-led military coalition.