Football returns to the killing field

By CNN's Harris Whitbeck

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- A few weeks ago, the crowds at the sports stadium in Kabul may have been watching something far removed from a mere football match.

A thief may have been having his hands or feet amputated. The goal posts could have been used to hang a criminal. Sometimes offenders were shot at close range on the edge of the penalty area.

Now, with the Taliban gone, the two top local soccer teams are being watched by a large crowd as sport at last returns to centre stage at the stadium.

The players and fans can relax knowing that the game will not be interrupted for the administration of Taliban justice.

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"No, I couldn't bear to watch it," says Zaidojou, a player who on at least three occasions had to stand by as Taliban police led convicted thieves to the field for amputations.

Stadium officials say dozens were executed and hundreds more punished on this soccer field by the Taliban.

Doing it in public was a way of warning the population of the price of breaking the law, as was leaving the evidence in sight.

Football coach Zaidmahsiam Masari showed me the exact spot where the punishments took place, centre field, where everyone could see.

"One morning I came out here and there was a big barrel on the field," he says "It was filled with amputated hands and feet.

"The teenage players out for morning practice were so upset they could not continue playing."

How then to erase the grisly memories from a place built for sportsmanship?

"We have to get support for a sports programme," he says. "Have resources to train our players and to send our young people abroad to see how other sportsmen in the world play, because for five years my players were in darkness."

The new sports authorities have begun by erasing the official name of the Taliban regime from the stadium wall.

But erasing the memory of what happened inside will likely take much longer.