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              Taliban Threats Force Messi Fan to Leave Afghanistan

   by VOA News

   To five-year-old Murtaza Ahmadi, international soccer (football) star
   Lionel Messi is a hero. Earlier this year, Ahmadi was photographed
   wearing an Argentinian jersey with Messi's number in the back.

   The soccer player eventually heard this heart-warming story of the
   Afghan-boy and sent him an official autographed jersey. Afghan soccer
   federation even tried to set up a meeting between the boy and Messi who
   plays professionally in Spain.

   But the young boy's gift eventually became a nightmare.

   "Life became misery for us," Ahmadi's father, Mohammad Arif Ahmadi,
   told the Associated Press over the telephone. The family was forced to
   leave Afghanistan after constant telephone threats and a menacing
   Taliban letter.

   The family now lives in neighboring Pakistan and settled in the city of
   Quetta.

   The boy's father said he feared his son would be kidnapped after his
   picture went viral. He became an Internet sensation both at home and
   around the world.

   At first, the family was not sure who was behind the phone calls. The
   father even though it could be criminal gangs thinking the family had
   money amid the boy's international popularity.

   But when a local cab driver called the family's home to deliver a
   letter, they realized it was the Taliban.

   "In the letter, the Taliban asked why my son was not learning the Quran
   [Islam's holy book] in an Islamic school and why I was instead allowing
   him and encouraging him to play soccer," he said.

   The main reason they left their "homeland" was because the threatening
   calls became more intense.

   "I sold all my belongings and brought my family out of Afghanistan to
   save my son's life as well as the lives of the rest of the family," the
   father said.

   Taliban had banned some sports during their brutal five-year reign
   between 1996 and 2001. Although they converted the main Kabul soccer
   stadium into a stage for public execution, men's soccer was still
   allowed in the country.

   After the fall of the Taliban, sports became popular again. Insurgents,
   however, perceive sporting events as corrupt Western influence.

   The elder Ahmadi said although options to meet Messi in person did not
   work, the family still believes the boy will meet the soccer legend.

   "Still, Murtaza hopes that one day he would be able to meet his hero,
   Messi," the father added.
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   -to-leave-afghanistan/3313636.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/taliban-threats-force-young-messi-fan-to-leave-afghanistan/3313636.html