It was once used by the Taliban to stage public executions, but Ghazi Stadium in Kabul reopened Thursday with hopes that a new field will usher in a new future for Afghanistan.
The Taliban, who ruled the country from 1996 to 2001, horrified crowds by driving onto the ground and administering their punishments, which sometimes included chopping off the hands of thieves.
But a crowd of nearly 5,000 people Thursday witnessed altogether different scenes, with male and female athletes parading on the track surrounding a new artificial turf, after a refurbishment funded by US government grants.
"The return of Afghanistan's sporting culture is long overdue, and the opening of this stadium can provide a beacon of sporting pride here in Afghanistan," according to US ambassador Ryan Crocker, who attended the reopening.
The new field will be certified by soccer's world governing body, FIFA, allowing international matches to be held in the future.
Sports are bringing an element of hope to war-wracked Afghanistan. The national soccer team recently reached the South Asian Football Federation finals, losing to India 4-0, and Afghanistan won the Asia Cricket Council T20 Cup in Nepal.
Daud, 40, a driver who only wanted to give his first name, was at the stadium in 1999 when he witnessed the execution of a woman called Zarmeena, who was accused of killing her husband.
Dressed in a blue burqa, she was made to kneel on the field.
"The Taliban got the Kalashnikov, put it behind her head and shot her two times. She fell down on the ground," Daud said. "The crowd went very quiet. It was a strange and dangerous atmosphere. People were shocked and scared. Sometimes I remember that woman — I even dream about it."
But he said he hoped that the stadium, once dirty and littered with bullets, now would be a symbol of hope in the country.
"Now the stadium is 100 percent changed," he said.
