The recent stride made by war-torn Afghanistan in international cricket is perhaps one of the most remarkable stories in the game’s history.

Both senior and junior teams of Afghanistan have been making headlines. The seniors beat hosts Bangladesh, an ICC full-member, in their own backyard in the recent Asia Cup. Bangladesh’s skipper Mushfiqur Rahim is longing for revenge in the opening ICC World Twenty20 2014 game on Sunday (today) against Afghanistan in Dhaka.

In 2013, Afghanistan won 26 of 28 matches against other Associate or Affiliate nations apart from Ireland. This is the third ICC Global Event following their debut at the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 in the Caribbean, where they were defeated by India and South Africa in the group stage.

In the 2012 tournament, they lost by only 23 runs to India before losing by 116 runs to England.  Seven members of the 2010 squad also played in the final of the ICC World Twenty20 Qualifier 2013 last November, a game they lost to Ireland.

They had secured qualification for the ICC World Twenty20 2014 with a 34-run victory over Kenya at Sharjah. That match included one of three man-of-the-match performances by leg-spinner Samiullah Shenwari, who was named player of the tournament. He finished joint third-highest wicket-taker in the tournament, with 16 wickets at 8.25 and an excellent economy rate of only 5.28.

Prior to their success in qualifying for this tournament, Afghanistan finished runners-up in the ICC World Cricket League Championship to qualify for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015 to be staged in Australia and New Zealand -- their first 50-overs ICC Global Event.

Afghanistan’s junior team also have some fairytales to tell following their impressive showings in Junior World Cup last month in the UAE. They defeated three-time World Champions Australia in group matches to eventually top the group and became the only team outside full members to qualify for the quarter-finals.

But in the quarter-finals, they were defeated by South Africa, who went on to win the title of the tournament, beating Pakistan in the summit clash.

They lost by nine runs to West Indies in the fifth-place play-off. They later defeated Sri Lanka, one of the top title contenders, to secure the seventh place.

Sixteen nations competed in the tournament, including the ten Test-playing teams, the hosts UAE, and five associate and affiliate qualifiers -- Afghanistan, Canada, Namibia, Papua New Guinea and Scotland.

Afghanistan recently bagged the top prizes of the ICC Development Programme Annual Awards 2013, claiming the Best Overall Cricket Development Programme as well as the award for Best Junior Participation Initiative. The former recognised Afghanistan’s efforts in developing cricket at all levels, which is reflected in their success in increasing participation rates, promoting the game, and qualifying for the ICC events. The latter recognised their work to introduce cricket into the school curriculum.

Afghanistan recently roped in the former Papua New Guinea coach, Peter Anderson, as the coach of the newly established National Cricket Academy in Kabul.

Anderson, who played 56 first-class matches for Queensland and South Australia, had served as the coach of PNG for the past two years.

Anderson is positive about Afghanistan’s prospects for the future. "Afghanistan have some of the most talented, naturally gifted players in the world. Hopefully, I can help the players and coaches achieve their goals of more consistent cricket performances across all specific skills of cricket through my role as National Academy Coach," he said following his appointment.

Looking at all these facts and figures and observing closely the statistics of the country in the world of cricket, it can be expected that Afghanistan will not be known for the volatile law and order situation and extremism only in the near future.

The Afghans have the opportunity of making their presence felt in the cricket world right away as they are featuring in the ICC World Twenty20 championship, which gets underway in Bangladesh today.

Skipper Taj Nabi believes that his players have the guts to do well in the event. "We prefer T20 cricket to ODIs. Anything can happen in T20 matches," Nabi said in an interview. "We are not targeting anything. We will just play positive cricket. We will play our natural game."

The Afghans are grouped with Bangladesh, Nepal and Hong Kong in the first round of the tournament, and will have to top the group in order to progress.