But chess players said the game has long been played here — except when the Taliban first came to power in 1996 — and banned chess, for the first time, said John Butt, an Islamic scholar who ...

The Taliban sports minister, Atal Mashwani, told journalists that chess is a form of gambling, and that's forbidden in Islam. It's a claim chess players we spoke to found baffling, like Jarullah ...

Chess playing, unlike kite flying, another Taliban bete noire, seems well adapted to secrecy so it is surprising that the authorities were so successful at detecting it and punishing players.

But chess players said the game has long been played here — except when the Taliban first came to power in 1996 — and banned chess, for the first time, said John Butt, an Islamic scholar who ...

The Taliban’s ban on playing chess in public was reported in May by local and international media, but it appeared that it had begun long before, implemented in stops and starts. Hassanzadeh told NPR ...

The Taliban suspended chess — during its first iteration of rule, and now, because it's "a means of gambling," the sports minister Atal Mashwani told the French news service, AFP.