The Taliban bans chess, saying it's anti-Islamic. Islam has long had a vexed relationship with chess, although Muslims historically helped spread the game
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Diaa Hadid chiefly covers Pakistan and Afghanistan for NPR News. She is based in NPR's bureau in Islamabad. There, Hadid and her team were awarded a Murrow in 2019 for hard news for their story on why abortion rates in Pakistan are among the highest in the world.