Photo Credit: Facebook Photo of UK Prime Minister
The International Cricket Council (ICC) is facing growing criticism over its decision to include Afghanistan’s men’s team in the upcoming Champions Trophy, despite the Taliban’s severe restrictions on women’s rights and their exclusion from sports.
The ICC has resisted calls to ban Afghanistan’s team or pressure the Taliban to comply with its own rules requiring Test-playing nations to support women’s cricket. Instead, the ICC maintains a strategy of fostering change through engagement. Afghanistan, granted Test-playing status in 2017, was accepted as a full ICC member despite lacking an operational women’s cricket program, citing cultural and religious constraints.
Efforts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) to form a women’s team in 2020 under “traditional Afghan and Islamic values” were halted when the Taliban regained control in 2021. Since then, women and girls have been increasingly excluded from sports and public life.
Calls for action have intensified, with over 160 British MPs and peers urging the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to boycott their scheduled match against Afghanistan in Pakistan next month. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the ECB’s advocacy on the issue but stopped short of endorsing a boycott. He said, “The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is in touch with our international counterparts on this issue. I welcome the England and Wales Cricket Board making strong representations to the International Cricket Council on Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team.”
South African Sports Minister Gayton McKenzie also backed a boycott, but Cricket South Africa deferred to ICC regulations, emphasizing adherence to tournament rules. In contrast, UK Culture and Sport Secretary Lisa Nandy opposed boycotts, arguing they penalize athletes and fans rather than holding governments accountable.
Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Nandy explained her stance, saying: “I’m instinctively cautious about boycotts in sports. They can deny fans opportunities they love and unfairly penalize athletes who work hard to compete. The athletes are not to blame for the Taliban’s appalling actions against women and girls.”
Instead of boycotts, Nandy advocated diplomatic measures, citing the UK’s decision to withhold symbolic support at past sporting events, such as the Winter Olympics in China, as an effective alternative.
“When China hosted the Winter Olympics, I was very vocal, many of us were very vocal about making sure that we didn’t send dignitaries to that event, that we didn’t give them the PR coup that they were looking for when they were forcibly incarcerating the Uighurs in Xinjiang,” she said.
The ICC reiterated its commitment to engaging with Afghanistan to promote inclusivity in cricket. “The ICC remains closely engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and continues to collaborate with our members,” a spokesperson told Sky News.
The ICC has also established an Afghanistan Cricket Task Force, led by Deputy Chairman Imran Khwaja, to oversee ongoing dialogue with the ACB.
However, Afghan women’s rights activists, including Khalida Popal, former captain of Afghanistan’s women’s football team, have condemned the ICC’s approach. “The governing bodies have failed to stand by their own policies. There’s clear gender discrimination in sport, and they’ve ignored the women of Afghanistan,” Popal told Sky News.
Despite the criticism, England’s match against Afghanistan remains on the schedule, and the Champions Trophy, set to begin next month, continues to spotlight the ICC’s handling of Afghanistan’s inclusion and the broader implications for gender equity in sports.
Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
