Will the Return of Taliban Impact Afghanistan Cricket Teams?

The Afghanistan Cricket Board expects some major changes with the current events that will most likely stop the plans for creating a national women’s cricket team.

The International Cricket council consists of 12 full members and Afghanistan is one of them. Their requirement is for each member country to have a national women’s team and The Afghanistan Cricket board planned to do that. With the current events, it seems like the fate of the national women’s team is under question.

The contracts were awarded to 25 female cricketers back in November of 2020.

Hamid Shinwari, chief executive of the national board is not optimistic about it ‘’I think it will be stopped – that is my assumption’’ said Shinwari to Sports Desk podcast

‘’I really don’t know what the position will be in the future’’ Shinwari added. “We have kept the salaries and they are on our payroll. If the government decides that we don’t go with the national women’s team, we will have to stop it.”

These awarding contracts for female cricketers were one step forward to creating the team. Although Afghanistan hasn’t competed in any tournaments, it was really promising.

When we go back to the previous rule of the Taliban from 1996 to 2001 there were start differences between men and women– women were forbidden to work or leave their houses without being accompanied by male relatives while girls were forbidden from receiving education.

They said that they will respect women’s rights “within the framework of Islamic law”.

The national team’s football account has been closed by Khalida Popal, the former captain of the Afghanistan women’s football team. This was done in order to prevent players from getting identified 

“Women’s cricket is pretty new in Afghanistan so I really don’t know how much impact it will have on progress in the country,” Shinwari stated.

“It is up to the government to decide and as an employee, we go ahead with the rules and regulations.”

Shinwari added that they were committed to playing their limited-overs series against Pakistan in September. He also claimed that they had received messages of support from the Taliban.

“They are there to support us whenever there is a need. For the time being, all is relatively good. We are going ahead with our schedules and activities. We haven’t seen any impediments so far.” finished Shinwari in a more optimistic note.