A photograph of Murtaza Ahmadi first appeared on the Internet in January. He was wearing a homemade soccer jersey that looked like the one worn by Lionel Messi, the Argentinian soccer star. The boy’s brother made the shirt from a blue-and-white striped plastic bag. The bag had the name “Messi” and number 10 written on the back. The photograph spread quickly on the Internet. Eventually, Messi himself heard about the boy and sent him a soccer ball and signed jerseys. The story seemed to have a happy ending. But after the news spread, the Ahmadi family started receiving threatening telephone calls and even a letter from the Taliban. The Associated Press says the Taliban have yet to comment on the boy’s case. Murtaza's father said that at first he was not sure who was responsible for all the phone calls. At first, he thought it might have been criminals who falsely thought the family made a lot of money from the boy’s fame.