“I want to be a champion in my country and a Hollywood star,” says Abbas Alizada as he’s swirling nunchakus at Kabul’s desolate Darulaman Palace, a place where he trains twice a week. He is one of ten kids in his family and he bears an uncanny resemblance to the late martial arts legend, Bruce Lee. Thanks to the internet and TV, and his recent success at a martial arts tournament in Kabul, (all which were practically unheard of until the toppling of the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks), Alizada is rapidly gaining fame.
“The only news that comes from Afghanistan is about war. . . . I am happy that my story is a positive one,” Alizada said.





