UEFA president Platini to visit Afghanistan on Sunday

UEFA president Michel Platini is set to visit Afghanistan on Sunday to lend his support to football in the war-torn country, weeks after it claimed its first international trophy.Afghanistan erupted in celebration after the national team beat India 2-0 in the final of the South Asian Football Federation championship on September 11.Platini, a 58-year-old former international French footballer, will meet Afghan football officials and also attend a press conference, a spokesman for the Afghan Football Federation (AFF), Murtaza Danesh, told AFP."We are happy and excited about his trip to Afghanistan and will warmly welcome him," Danesh said."The visit will be a boost to the Afghan national football team."The victory over India triggered massive joy across Afghanistan, where US-led international forces and government troops have been fighting a 12-year war against a Taliban insurgency.The Taliban, which ruled from 1996 to 2001 until they were deposed by a US-led international coalition, allowed football but before matches at the national football ground in Kabul would carry out public executions.

Source: AFP