The Afghani cricket scene has never, funnily enough, been my specialist subject.
But over the past few weeks, the curious case of cricket in Afghanistan has never been talked about more.
Later this month, the England men’s cricket team will play Afghanistan in a Champions Trophy match in Lahore.
Rarely, if ever, has a single cricket match been shrouded in such controversy.
The calls for a boycott by England are deafening, and are coming from all angles.
The reason for such intense feelings about England’s men lining up against Afghanistan is centred around the Afghan women’s team.
Or rather, the lack of one.
Following the Taliban's return to power in Afghanistan in 2021, women’s sport has been effectively outlawed.
Pre-2021, this was a country in which females were gradually gaining more rights and women and girls playing sport was becoming a far more commonplace occurrence.
The women’s national cricket team was formed in 2010, and was making steady progress.
But, in 2021, when the Taliban returned to power, this progress immediately stopped.
Indeed, the lack of access to sport was one of many issues: such is the Taliban’s treatment of women, many, including the members of the women’s cricket team, fled in an attempt to find safety. But the situation for women in Afghanistan remains dire.
Their rights are almost non-existent, and they’re permitted to do very little unless accompanied by a man.
This is, clearly, an abhorrent situation, but it’s been like this for nearly four years, this current spike in headlines is interesting.
It’s because of England’s upcoming match against Afghanistan on the 26th of February.
While Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team has been decimated, the men’s team continues not only to play but to thrive, with the men’s outing at this month's Champions Trophy 2025 just their latest international appearance in what's been a relatively lengthy list in recent years.
Despite the women’s team’s existence having been effectively ended by the Taliban, the men’s team has continued entirely unhindered, receiving support both from the Taliban, who see the men’s cricket team as an effective way to promote the country, and from the sport’s governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC).
It’s the continued support from the ICC that’s so incongruous and baffling.
The ICC’s regulations state that full membership of the organisation is dependent upon each nation having a women's cricket team, as well as pathway structures in place.
However, despite this clearly not being the case in Afghanistan, their men's team have been allowed to participate in ICC tournaments without any apparent sanctions, with their participation in this month’s Champions Trophy just the latest case in point.
And this is why the calls for England to boycott this match have become so loud, they’re now almost deafening.
Firstly, this decision shouldn’t actually have fallen to the England men’s team, nor the England and Wales Cricket Board. The ICC should have taken action on the Afghanistan men’s team already given the country is clearly not adhering to the conditions of ICC membership.
But given the ICC has, so far at least, shown complete cowardice and refused to take a stance, the next best thing is for opposing teams to make their voices heard.
The second thing to consider is the idea of boycotts at all.
There are few, and I include myself in this, who believe boycotts are an ideal solution to anything in sport.
Rarely, if ever, has a team, organisation or individual staging a boycott changed much in the grand scheme of things, if anything.
But desperate times call for desperate measures, and there’s no other way to describe the plight of Afghani women and, within that, the Afghanistan women’s cricket team, as anything other than desperate.
Yes, there was a glimmer of good news in the past few weeks, with the Afghanistan women’s team, many of whom settled in Australia after fleeing their home country, playing their first match since the Taliban took over when they took on a Cricket Without Borders team in Melbourne.
But this far from solved any problems.
Few are suggesting a cricketing boycott would change much materially for Afghani women, whose lives have become significantly more restricted since the Taliban returned to power in the country, but this is surely no justification to do nothing.
To allow the Afghanistan men’s team to continue playing as they currently are, with no pushback at all, sends a clear message that while it’s easy to talk about how terrible the Taliban’s treatment of women is, actually taking any action is just a step too far.
The repeated calls for a boycott, which have come from the political sphere as well as the sporting sphere - a cross-party letter signed by nearly 200 UK politicians was recently sent to the England and Wales Cricket Board calling for England to refuse to play the match - have fallen on deaf ears, with confirmation coming last week that England will, indeed, take to the field against the Afghanistan men’s team.
Those, including Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who have suggest a boycott is depriving sports fans of the chance to watch the sport they love may well be correct.
But there’s times when things are bigger than a sporting fixture.
This is, surely, a case in point.
By continuing to allow Afghanistan men’s team to continue as they are, without any pushback at all, is a slap in the face of the most almighty proportions to all Afghani women whose lives have been decimated by the Taliban.
Boycotts rarely change the world. But, in particular cases, such as this, that's no reason at all not to stage them.
