Taliban has crushed the dreams of Women’s Cricket in Afghanistan
Lack of commitment from Taliban govt to women’s cricket in Afghanistan has now finally become a “concern” for the ICC, as the global cricket body has launched its first Under-19 Women’s T20 World Cup later this week and Afghanistan is the only cricket team (Full Member) which is missing at the event in South Africa, in which 16 teams have been participating.
Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, women’s cricket has not made any headway anywhere in the country, and it looks like it won’t in the near future, forcing the ICC to take up the case at its next board meeting in March.
The global governing body has formed a working group to review the cricket situation in Afghanistan following the Taliban’s takeover of the country in 2021. The group, chaired by the ICC deputy chair Imran Khwaja, met with the government of Afghanistan and cricket officials in November last year, along with the Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen. The government also reiterated its commitment to comply with the ICC constitution, including agreeing in principle to support the development of Afghanistan women’s cricket.
In reality, nothing has been done in Afghanistan to encourage women to pick up the game, even after they made a formal effort to expand their domestic structure and take cricket to new regions.
From age group to senior level, there are six tournaments for men’s cricket across all formats. But there has been no investment in women’s cricket in Afghanistan. It is the only cricketing nation to have Full Member status without satisfying one of its essential requirements: a fully operational women’s team.
WHAT IT’S LIKE TO BE A WOMAN SPORTSPERSON IN AFGHANISTAN?
Being a woman and playing any sport in Afghanistan was frowned upon under Taliban rule.
Among other girls she trained with (one in England and two in Canada’s), Nazifa was given a visa by Australia a month after Kabul fell.
“It’s hard to explain that time as you must leave your country when you don’t want to. But it’s about your family, someone you love, and you must leave. Because of this, I could help my parents, siblings, and husband, but other girls’ families are still in Afghanistan. We can’t say they are safe because, unfortunately, they aren’t safe. It’s a tough situation for all our team”, says Nazifa.
“I can’t say the Taliban would only target cricketers. They target every woman who plays sports.
“They would target anyone, and if they aren’t there, they (Taliban) will target their family. We think world leaders forget Afghanistan women, so we try to stay strong”, Nazifa added.
“Here in Australia, I can play cricket and represent my country, but unfortunately, the Taliban came and shut everything off for us. When the men’s team of Afghanistan was voted in as ICC’s full member in 2017, women’s cricket was ignored, citing cultural and religious reasons”, stated Nazifa.
“They are very rude about girls who want to play sport, and most people think that sport isn’t nice for a woman. In fact, people in Afghanistan speak badly about women’s sports, which makes it hard for the girls because when girls in Afghanistan show any interest in sport, they have to fight a lot with relatives, with family, with the community”, says Nazifa.
“I have been fighting for eight years to show I am strong and can play cricket.”
The Afghanistan women’s team, who have never represented their country internationally, are training in Australia and have so much which they didn’t have back home.
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“We have a coach; we have the equipment, we have a ground, we never had a ground in my city Herat, we have everything except our national team.”
Nazifa feels they’ve always lacked support in their own country.
‘IT IS CONCERNING’
“The recent developments in Afghanistan are concerning, such as banning higher education for girls and playing sports, are concerning,” ICC CEO Geoff Allardice said during a press conference.
Progress is not being made in Afghanistan which is a big concern for women.
Since the Taliban took over, many women have fled or sought to leave their home country because of the fear of living under ‘Taliban rule’. Some women were working in the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) headquarters in Kabul but are no longer coming into the office as there were reports that several have gone overseas.
“Girls can play if they want to, but it was never an option in Afghanistan. That is why several girls left the country to play sports in Afghanistan; it was impossible. They left for a better future which is their right as in Afghanistan, cricket among girls hasn’t been popular anyway, and it hasn’t been encouraged either”, said the official from Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB).
“It is largely because of the lack of acceptance and rights about women going out. ICC should understand the dynamics in the country as it’s not something they can enforce. It takes time as every country operates within its own law. Certain things aren’t open as it in western society”, the official added.
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