KABUL: The crackle of gunfire. A gasp of a stranger. Explosions rumbling in the distance. In the Afghan capital of Kabul, such sounds would normally prompt panic.
But they are coming from the tinny speaker of a mobile phone clutched by a young man, hunched over and absorbed in the bloody shoot ’em up video game “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds”, or PUBG.
“In this country, we are living but we are not alive,” said gamer Abdul Musawir Raufi, after peeling his gaze away from the phone screen, where his avatar duels with other players in an online arena.
“We don’t know what will happen from one moment to the next. It’s the only way to pass the time,” said the 23-year-old.
Afghanistan has…
