Buzkashi

Yesterday I watched a Buzkashi game in the suburbs of Kabul. Buzkashi is said to combine elements of polo and rugby but I would add that it also simulates Kabul traffic protocols - of which there are none. I had understood it to be a team game but at least yesterday it was everyone with a horse for himself, with the consequence that the object of the game - a headless goat carcass, spent most of the time being trampled under a scrum of horses instead of being pulled around a flag and dropped in a target circle. Amidst this pack of rearing horses the bravest players reach to the ground for one of the goat's legs. The game is tamer than it used to be - knives are now banned - but it is still pretty wild. An added feature yesterday was a bunch of daredevil photographers who tended to get close to the thick of things - I have one picture of one of them running for his life once a competitor finally got free of the gridlock with the carcass. I've grouped my photos here.