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American Morning

Games Afghan Children Play

Aired December 27, 2001 - 08:55   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Now, to Afghanistan, where children are learning to play again. Toys and games were forbidden under the Taliban,

As CNN's Jason Bellini reports, the games are back, with some reminders of Afghanistan's violent past.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON BELLINI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Kites flutter gracefully in the sky on lazy afternoon in Kabul. Until, that is, one of their lines is cut by a fellow kite. Then the true nature of this Afghan game is revealed.

(on camera): Kite flying here is a really savage game. The way it works is, once your kite's up in the air, you begin fighting with all the other kites. They try to cut your string and you try cut their string. Oh, see? He just lost his. So once you lose this -- once you lose your kite, you're out of luck, because one of these kids here is going to grab it and they're going to keep it.

So when you come to this field to play with your kite, you're not here just to play, you're here for battle.

RISHAD, AGE 18: Everyone want to get a kite. So it is -- they are fighting.

BELLINI: Why don't you go home and make a kite?

RISHAD: No! I can't make a kite.

BELLINI: Why not?

RISHAD: Because I'm not a maker of the kites.

BELLINI (voice-over): Rishad, who's 18 years old, is a destroyer of kites, like the other boys. He runs with them in "Lord of the Flies"-like clans, brandishing homemade weapon.

(on camera): What makes someone a good kite catcher?

RISHAD: A long stick.

BELLINI: The bigger the stick, the better you are at catching kites.

RISHAD: Yes.

BELLINI (voice-over): Strong winds make winter the season for kite flying here. It's also prime time for cockfighting.

A long beak is the weapon of choice for this sport, reinitiated after the fall of the Taliban. A tradition now passed on to children, who were too young to be introduced to it before the Taliban.

(on camera): Is today the first day your hen is fighting?

(voice-over): I asked if he's afraid of his bird getting hurt.

"No." He answers. "Fighting is his role."

The elders fight too, over which of the fighting birds fights best.

"Mine is stronger."

"Mine will last longer."

"Yours will die."

"How much do you want to bet?"

(on camera): People from outside your country, might look at the tradition, and think it is very barbaric, what do you say to them?

(voice-over): "From the cockfighting, people can learn a lesson. These cocks are brave. We should all be this brave," I'm told.

(on camera): Doesn't it make the little children sad when a hen dies?

(voice-over): "The children are not afraid," one elder answers. "They have seen bombing, they have seen people getting killed, they've seen bodies on the street. For these reasons they're not afraid. The people of Afghanistan are not afraid of dying."

(on camera): Won't you go back for the person who loses his kite?

RASHID: No.

BELLINI: Why not? Why not?

RASHID: -- because -- it was -- he lost his kite.

BELLINI (voice-over): The games children play in Afghanistan. Games not only of joy, but metaphors of survival in this tough land, acted out with kites and cocks.

Jason Bellini, CNN, Kabul, Afghanistan.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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