ICC to discuss Afghanistan women's cricket situation at next board meeting

Whether or not to take action such as suspending Afghanistan's ICC member status will be a key item on the agenda of the next meeting, which is expected to take place in mid-November

The ICC is "concerned" about reports that the Taliban will ban women from playing cricket, with the issue set to be addressed at the governing body's next board meeting.

In an interview with Australian outlet SBS, the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, said that it is "not necessary" for women to take part in the sport.

Full member status of the ICC, which entitles nations to stage cricket, comes with the stipulation that the country should have a women's national team. When Afghanistan was granted ICC full member status in 2017, it received a special exemption, with a promise to develop the game for women.

Work had begun in that regard, and in November 2020, the Afghanistan Cricket Board handed out 25 contracts to female players in the first step towards a functioning women's setup.

However, many of those players are now in hiding or have fled the country following the rise to power of the Taliban.

Should the women's programme be cancelled, there would be grounds for Afghanistan's full member status to be revoked just four and a half years after the country was granted the right to play Tests.

^{A Taliban representative has suggested women will not be allowed to play cricket in Afghanistan}

Whether or not the ICC take such action will be a key item on the agenda of the next board meeting - which is expected to take place in mid-November, though the date is yet to be confirmed.

"The ICC is committed to the long-term growth of women’s cricket and despite the cultural and religious challenges in Afghanistan, steady progress had been made in this area since Afghanistan’s admission as a full member in 2017," a spokesperson told The Cricketer.

"The ICC has been monitoring the changing situation in Afghanistan and is concerned to note recent media reports that women will no longer be allowed to play cricket.

"This and the impact it will have on the continued development of the game will be discussed by the ICC board at its next meeting."

An option available to the governing body would be to suspend Afghanistan from the ICC, an action which has been used with other nations - such as Nepal and USA in recent years, without cricket activity being halted.

Any decision is not expected to come quickly, however, despite the assertions made by Wasiq.

"I don't think women will be allowed to play cricket because it is not necessary that women should play cricket," the Taliban representative told SBS.

^{Afghanistan's men are due to play Australia in a one-off Test in November}

"In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this.

"It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed."

Afghanistan's men are due to play a one-off Test against Australia in Hobart in November.

Politicians in Australia have begun to voice their concern that staging the event could be seen as a legitimisation of the Taliban rule.

"The Taliban's attitudes towards women and their individual rights should not be accepted by the international sporting community," federal sports minister Richard Colbeck told the ABC.

"Excluding women from sport at any level is unacceptable."

"The decision by the Taliban that women will not be able to play sport at all just confirmed to me what we are dealing with," Senator Eric Abetz said.

"The Test match at this stage should not go ahead."