KABUL: A former wife of legendary US boxer Muhammad Ali arrived in the Afghan capital, a Taliban government official said Friday, to reportedly open a stadium in a country where women are barred from sports.

The head of the Taliban government’s sports directorate, Ahmadullah Wasiq, told AFP that Khalilah Camacho-Ali, who was married to the boxer for a decade from 1967, had arrived in Kabul.

State media cited the directorate as saying she was in the city “to build a sports stadium to be named ‘Pirozi’ (victory in Dari) and a sports association named after Muha­mmad Ali”.

Born Belinda Boyd in 1950 in the United States, Camacho-Ali, like her world champion boxer ex-husband, converted to Islam after they married.

Muhammad Ali himself visited Kabul in 2002, a year after the US forces overthrew the first Taliban government, visiting a girls’ school in his role as a United Nations peace ambassador.

Since the Taliban government came to power in Afghanistan in 2021, they have imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic law, with women bearing the brunt of restrictions the United Nations have called “gender apartheid”, including blocking women from participating in sports.

During the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, public executions in sports stadiums were common.

Public corporal punishment has continued since their return to power and at least two public executions have been held in a sports stadium.

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2024