Ariana Television and Radio Network (ATN) has done it again! This time it secured the rights to broadcast the ICC World Test Championship 2023/25 Final in Afghanistan.

The 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship is an ongoing tournament of Test Cricket which is the third edition of the ICC World Test Championship.

This event started in June 2023 with The Ashes, which was contested between England and Australia. It will finish in June 2025 with the final match planned to be played at Lord's in London.

The tournament consists of 27 series and 69 matches in the league stage between nine countries. The top two teams in the points table will compete at the final.

Current State of Play

A draw this week in the third Test between Australia and India has spiced up the race to the World Test Championship Final especially as Australia and India continue to play catch-up with South Africa after the rain-truncated third Test in Brisbane ended in a stalemate.

South Africa had to dig deep against Sri Lanka recently, but a standout all-round performance helped them secure a series win and pushed them to the top of the standings, placing them as the front-runners for the WTC25 Final at Lord’s.

Alongside South Africa, Australia and India, Sri Lanka remains the only other team in contention for a WTC25 Final spot. However, they will need a string of favorable results - including a successful showing in their upcoming two-match series against Australia in January - to keep their hopes alive.

South Africa is top of the standings with a PCT of 63.33. They need to win one out of their two upcoming tests against Pakistan to reach their maiden ICC WTC final.

Australia and India are in second and third place respectively.

India has a PCT of 55.88 and two tests left, both of which they need to win to secure a place in the final.

Australia’s PCT is 58.89. After two tests against India. They have two more tests in Sri Lanka.

For cricket fans across the country, make sure you follow us on social media, and watch this spot, for updates and announcements on this event - along with other exciting tournaments coming up next year that Ariana Television will be bringing to you live and exclusively in Afghanistan.

Russia's parliament passed a law on Tuesday that would allow courts to suspend bans on groups designated by Moscow as terrorist organisations - paving the way for it to normalise ties with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan annd potentially with the new leadership of Syria.

No country currently recognises the IEA government which regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021.

But Russia has been gradually building ties with the Islamic Emirate, which President Vladimir Putin said in July was now an ally in fighting terrorism.

In addition, the leader of Russia's Muslim region of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, called on Monday for the removal of Syrian group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) from Moscow's list of banned groups.

HTS spearheaded the toppling of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

Kadyrov, a close Putin ally, said Russia needed ties to the new Syrian authorities to ensure stability and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe.

The Kremlin said this week that Russia was in contact with the new leadership in Syria, where it hopes to retain the use of an airfield and a naval base that give it an important military foothold in the Mediterranean.

Security threat

Moscow sees a major security threat from Islamist militant groups based in a string of countries from Afghanistan to the Middle East, where Russia lost a major ally with the fall of Assad, Reuters reported.

In March, gunmen killed 145 people at a concert hall outside Moscow in an attack claimed by Islamic State.

U.S. officials said they had intelligence indicating it was the Afghan branch of the group, Islamic State Khorasan (ISIS-K), that was responsible.

However, the IEA has repeatedly said it is working to wipe out the presence of ISIS-K in Afghanistan.

Russia’s history in Afghanistan

Russia has a complex and bloodstained history in Afghanistan.

Soviet troops invaded the country in December 1979 to prop up a Communist government, but became bogged down in a long war against mujahideen fighters armed by the United States.

Soviet leader at the time, Mikhail Gorbachev, pulled his army out in 1989, by which time some 15,000 Soviet soldiers had been killed.

As part of its ongoing commitment to supporting needy families in winter in Afghanistan, the Bayat Foundation has once again provided essential food aid to hundreds of needy families in Kunduz province.

The Bayat Foundation’s representative in the northeastern zone, Khair Mohammad Saljoqi, explained that the relief packages included flour, rice, and oil, which were distributed to the needy after a thorough survey.

He stated: “The Bayat Charity Foundation continues its annual winter aid distribution [program]. This year, we have prepared winter relief packages for the needy in Kunduz, and today we are witnessing the distribution.”

Meanwhile, recipients have expressed their gratitude for the timely delivery of the relief packages and have called for further assistance from other humanitarian organizations for impoverished families.

One of the aid recipients, expressed his appreciation, saying: "We are very grateful to the Bayat Foundation."

Another recipient said: “We are very happy that the Bayat Foundation has helped the poor people. May God give strength to the Bayat Foundation to continue helping needy families, as it is winter, the weather is cold, and there is no work.”

Additionally, several women, who are the sole breadwinners for their families, shared that they have no food or warm clothing to get them through winter and are in desperate need of such assistance.

They also thanked the Bayat Foundation for their assistance.

Rukhshana, one of the recipients, said: “Please help us. We don’t have a breadwinner at home. I have small children. Traders should help us. We have no firewood, no coal. We thank the Bayat Foundation for helping us.”

The Bayat Foundation is a stalwart in terms of assisting needy people, not only through its winter food aid campaign but also in times of disaster.

Foundation officials have meanwhile stressed that given the growing poverty and worsening hardships people are facing in the country, their winter aid program will continue to be rolled out to other provinces.