Taliban Bans Women's Cricket in Afghanistan

The Afghanistan women's national cricket team was formally constituted in November 2020 when the Afghanistan Cricket Board, under pressure from the ICC's full-member criteria, awarded contracts to 25 women players. The squad had been under preparation for several years, drawing primarily from refugee communities in Pakistan and from the limited domestic women's cricket structure that had emerged in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif since the early 2010s. Under ICC rules at the time of Afghanistan's promotion to Test status in 2017, all full members were required to maintain a women's national side. The November 2020 contracts brought Afghanistan into nominal compliance, with the team scheduled to play its first international matches in 2021.

The first match never took place. On 15 August 2021, Taliban forces entered Kabul; the Ashraf Ghani government collapsed; the United States and allied forces completed their withdrawal at the end of the month. Within weeks the new Taliban administration's Cultural Commission spokesman Ahmadullah Wasiq stated publicly that women's involvement in sport — including cricket — was "neither appropriate nor necessary" and that women would not be permitted to play sport in the new Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Cricket Board, now answerable to the Taliban administration, ceased communication with the contracted women players. Payments stopped. Several players reported their homes being raided by Taliban personnel searching for evidence of cricket activity; many burned their kits and equipment in the days after the takeover.

The 25 contracted women players responded with a coordinated effort to reach safety abroad. Some, with the help of intermediaries, fled across the Pakistan border in the weeks following the Taliban takeover. Others made it to Australia after Cricket Australia and the Australian government coordinated emergency visa applications in late 2021 and early 2022. The majority of the squad eventually settled in Australia, primarily in Melbourne and Canberra, where they began rebuilding their cricket careers in the local club structure with the support of Cricket Victoria and Cricket ACT. They retained, formally, their ACB contracts — but the ACB no longer paid them, no longer recognised their existence in any operational sense, and was prevented by the Taliban administration from organising any women's cricket activity inside Afghanistan.

The ICC's response divided opinion sharply. The ICC's chair Greg Barclay said in November 2021 that the body was "committed" to supporting Afghanistan in developing both men's and women's cricket. The continued recognition of Afghanistan as a full member of the ICC, despite the demonstrable absence of women's cricket activity in the country, was a clear breach of the membership criteria as written. The ICC's defence was pragmatic: suspending Afghanistan would harm the men's players, who had no responsibility for the Taliban's policies, and would remove the only realistic external lever for advocating for the women players. Critics — including a sustained campaign by Australian cricket figures, English politicians, and the displaced women players themselves — argued that the pragmatism amounted to acquiescence.

When the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in August 2021, one of the immediate casualties was women's sport. The Afghan women's cricket team, which had been slowly developing since receiving ICC affiliate membership, was effectively dissolved. Taliban deputy head of the cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, stated that women playing cricket was "not necessary" and that Islam did not allow women to be seen playing sport.

The ban placed the ICC in an extremely difficult position. The ICC's own constitution requires all Full Members to have an active women's cricket program. Australia and other nations threatened to cancel bilateral series against Afghanistan's men's team if the women's ban remained. Cricket Australia cancelled a landmark Test match against Afghanistan scheduled for November 2021 in Hobart, citing the Taliban's treatment of women.

Despite the clear violation of its own membership criteria, the ICC took a cautious approach, stopping short of suspending Afghanistan. Critics accused the ICC of applying double standards — willing to suspend Zimbabwe for government interference but reluctant to act against Afghanistan on gender equality. The ICC argued that engagement was more likely to produce change than isolation. Meanwhile, Afghan women cricketers fled the country as refugees, with some continuing to play in exile. The situation remains unresolved and represents one of the most profound challenges to cricket's claim to be an inclusive global sport.

“Women cannot play cricket because it is not necessary that women should play cricket. In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered.”

“If playing with Afghanistan is so uncomfortable for Australia then I wouldn't want to make anyone uncomfortable with my presence in the BBL.”

“We have not heard from the ICC. We have not heard from the ACB. We are still here.”

“The continued full-member status of Afghanistan in the absence of any women's cricket activity is a clear breach of the ICC's own rules.”

“Suspending Afghanistan would harm the men's players who have no responsibility for the policies of their government.”

The diplomatic and cricketing response has been a series of stand-offs without resolution. Australia's January 2023 withdrawal from a bilateral ODI series with Afghanistan was the first concrete sanction by any major cricket nation. Cricket Australia explicitly cited the Taliban's policies on women's rights, including the cricket ban, as the reason. The Afghanistan Cricket Board described the withdrawal as "pathetic" and Afghan men's players including Rashid Khan responded publicly — Rashid threatening to withdraw from the BBL in protest, though he ultimately did not. The Australian withdrawal was repeated for the 2024 bilateral series; Australia continues to play Afghanistan in ICC events but not in bilateral cricket.

England has resisted comparable action despite sustained domestic political pressure. In 2024, more than 160 British politicians signed a letter calling on the ECB to withdraw from the men's Champions Trophy fixture against Afghanistan. The ECB declined, citing the ICC framework and the position that bilateral and multilateral fixtures should be treated differently. The result is that Afghanistan men's cricket continues to be played at the highest level, financed in part by ICC distributions, while women's cricket inside Afghanistan does not exist.

The displaced women players themselves have built an unofficial team in Australia. The "Afghanistan Women's XI" played its first formal exhibition match in Melbourne in January 2025 under Cricket Australia hosting arrangements, though the ICC has not extended any official recognition to the side. Players including former vice-captain Firooza Amiri have publicly challenged the ICC's position, asking how the body can claim to support women's cricket development in Afghanistan while continuing to fund a Cricket Board that operates under Taliban authority.