ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the historical and contemporary migration of Afghan and Pakistani athletes to and from the Global North and Global South, arguing that sport constitutes a key arena where conflict, development, and mobility intersect. Tracing trajectories from the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and Pakistan’s mega-dam displacements through the war on terror era and changing sociopolitical realities, it shows how war, political instability, economic precarity, and infrastructure gaps propel athletes into transnational circuits of cricket, football, combat sports, and emerging professional leagues. Using concepts of transnationalism, diaspora, sporting remittances, and embodied nationalism, the chapter demonstrates how athletes function as "cultural brokers" who move tactics, resources, and political messages across borders. The chapter finally sheds light on gendered dynamics and the politics of visibility, highlighting how women and refugee athletes use sport as resistance and advocacy amid layered regimes of control. The chapter overall offers a historically grounded discussion for understanding Afghan and Pakistani sports migration, setting up deeper, athlete-centered theoretical analyses in subsequent chapters.
