Al Jazeera's Rahul Pathak reports from Dubai, where Afghanistan are bidding to qualify for their first major cricket tournament - the World Twenty20 in the West Indies.
A place in the Caribbean would mean matches against the likes of India, Australia and South Africa.
But first up is a historic meeting with the US, a country whose troops are still fighting in Afghanistan nearly nine years after launching their military campaign.
With a place in the last stages of qualifying up for grabs, both sides are forgetting the hype and insisting it is just another game.
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February 11, 2010.