Why Afghanistan's Anti-Doping Efforts Are Failing

Afghanistan's anti-doping programme is in crisis following the Taliban's return, facing a complete breakdown in testing and a lack of resources to combat doping in sport.

No tests for three years and four tests managed last year. Afghanistan's fledgling anti-doping programme, much like its sporting landscape, has fallen on hard times since Taliban's return and the war-torn country's exiled anti-doping chief has no qualms admitting that for now, "there is no hope".

Dr Abdul Rahman Hameed, a sports injuries expert, worked his way up to become the chairman of Afghanistan's Anti-Doping Committee that operates under the country's National Olympic Committee (NOC).

He had to shift base to the UK in 2021 when the Taliban came back to power. Despite the political upheaval, the country remains a signatory to the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) code but could not conduct any national-level tests in the period between 2021 and 2024.

Challenges in Conducting Anti-Doping Tests

In 2025, Afghanistan managed four tests for which samples were collected in other countries like Iran, which is currently entangled in a military showdown of its own after being bombed by the USA and Israel.

"We need to have an anti-doping agency which can operate autonomously because under an NOC, we would never have the resources to widen the net. But right now in Afghanistan there are no Doping Control Officers (DCOs) to even carry out basic tasks like sample collection," Hameed told PTI in an interview on the sidelines of WADA's Global Anti-Doping Intelligence and Investigations Network (GAIIN) Final Conference here.

"There were two DCOs earlier, both university lecturers, but they had to flee. There is nobody now."

DCOs are essential foot-soldiers in anti-doping operations and their responsibilities include not just collection of samples (both in and out of competition) but also ensuring their safe transportation to WADA-accredited laboratories.

Logistical Nightmares and International Support

"Even if there were DCOs, how would we even manage transportation to labs? There are no courier services in Afghanistan, they left due to the political situation. We had DHL and Fedex earlier which could be relied upon to do the task but not anymore," Hameed said.

To put things in perspective, Palestine, which is also war-ravaged, was able to conduct eight out-of-competition tests in 2024 as per WADA figures, the year in which Afghanistan couldn't pull off even one. At the Paris Olympics in the same year, Afghan judoka Mohammed Samim Faizad tested positive for a prohibited anabolic steroid and is currently serving a four-year ban.

"There were no tests happening since 2021. But we managed four tests last year, Iran helped in that. We are also signatories to the Central Asia Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (RADOCA), which supports our anti-doping programmes," Hameed said.

The Almaty-based RADOCA was established by NOCs and governments of Afghanistan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan with assistance from WADA and the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) in 2006.

Impact of Political Instability on Athletes

"Most of our athletes who are good for international competition do not live in Afghanistan, they had to leave because of the political situation. I too had to leave for my family's sake and since I was a consultant with the British Council back then, I was offered a move by them to the UK, which I accepted," said the 45-year-old, who has been Afghanistan's anti-doping head since 2017.

Women were banished from sports and education as Afghanistan became a theocracy under Taliban.

Hameed said sports in general was relegated from the list of priorities and in such a scenario, anti-doping efforts became collateral damage. Despite the gloom, a 10-strong contingent is expected to represent Afghanistan at this year's Asian Games in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

Future Prospects and Challenges Ahead

"I have been trying to have more people in the anti-doping committee because it is very difficult for me to run operations alone, that too remotely. I want at least a Therapeutic Usage Exemption (TUE) committee which can process applications from athletes," he said.

"I manage to coordinate seminars and training programmes but testing cannot be done like this."

TUEs allow athletes, with medical conditions, to use prohibited substances in doses that do not violate the anti-doping code under strict supervision and documentation by medical practitioners.

"There is lack of awareness, there are financial issues and then there are also political reasons. Because as we all know when someone gets power, they are not willing to let it go," Hameed said without getting into the specifics.

Afghanistan's anti-doping programme had got a shot in the arm just a year before things went downhill.

It's DCOs had undergone online training related to out-of-competition testing by RADOCA and even done field exercises subsequently.

RADOCA had described it as "one of the greatest achievements" of a difficult year during which COVID-19 brought the world to a halt.

"But there is no hope now. It is extremely difficult. The people who are there on ground in Afghanistan do not have experience in anti-doping, they don't know anything about the fight. It is challenging for them," Hameed said.

"We need to have more people who are educators, we need DCOs, we have to train them again."