Afghanistan’s continuing lack of commitment to women’s cricket has become a “concern” for the Governing Cricket Council body, as it prepares to stage its first Under-19 Women’s 20-20 World Cup, later, this week. Afghanistan are the only full member to not be represented at the event in South Africa, in which 16 teams are participating.
Over a year after the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, women’s cricket has not made any headway at all in the country and signs are that it won’t in the near future. The global governing body had formed a working group to review cricket in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country in 2021.
The group, chaired by the deputy chair Imran Khwaja, met with Afghanistan Government and cricket officials in November last year, including the Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen. The government reportedly reiterated its commitment to comply with the governing body’s constitution, including agreeing in principle to support the development of women’s cricket.
But in reality, nothing has been done to encourage women to pick up the game, even when they made a formal effort to expand their domestic structure and take cricket to new regions. There are six tournaments across all formats for men’s cricket, from age group to senior level. And prospects have become bleaker recently, after the Taliban regime ordered an indefinite ban on university education for girls, which, according to the Apex cricket body CEO Geoff Allardice, is concerning.
“Obviously, the recent developments [banning higher education for girls] in Afghanistan are concerning. Our board has been monitoring progress since the change of regime. It is a concern that progress is not being made in Afghanistan and it’s something our board will consider at its next meeting in March. As far as we are aware, there isn’t activity at the moment.” Allardice was quoted as saying by NDTVsports.
Many women have attempted to leave the country since the Taliban took control. Women who previously worked at the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) office in Kabul no longer frequent the building. According to reports, several have left the country.
