Exiled members of Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team are urging the International Cricket Council to recognize them as an official national side, arguing that the organization should follow the example set by FIFA in supporting displaced Afghan athletes.
The appeal comes after FIFA changed its rules to allow exiled players from Afghanistan’s women’s football team to compete internationally without approval from the Taliban.
According to a report by ABC News, Afghan women cricketers living in exile say the ICC has failed to take meaningful steps toward formally recognizing the team despite growing international pressure.
Catherine Ordway, a sports integrity expert and visiting scholar at the University of New South Wales in Canberra who helped some Afghan players relocate to Australia after the Taliban takeover in 2021, criticized what she described as the ICC’s slow response.
“It’s absolutely not a good look,” Ordway told ABC News. “There’s already an example out there with football, and I hope other international federations will follow suit, including cricket.”
Afghanistan’s women’s cricket team effectively ceased to operate inside the country after the Taliban returned to power and imposed sweeping restrictions on women and girls, including bans on secondary and university education, most employment and organized sports.
Many female athletes fled Afghanistan fearing persecution and now live in countries including Australia.
The ICC previously established a task force intended to support displaced Afghan women cricketers, but critics say the initiative has lacked clear direction and meaningful representation from the players themselves.
“The previous task force didn’t meet at all,” Ordway said. “At least this one has met once, but as far as we can see, there is still no clear plan.”
She said the task force includes representatives from the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket Australia, but no representatives from the Afghan women’s team.
“The women have been asking for representation on the task force,” she said. “There’s also no strategy for what happens after the current funding ends in August, and that’s deeply concerning.”
According to ABC News, the players believe official recognition by the ICC would send an important signal to women and girls still living under Taliban restrictions inside Afghanistan.
“They want to show women and girls in Afghanistan that women can do anything,” Ordway said. “But the ICC just hasn’t stepped up to the plate yet.”
The players have participated in training camps and exhibition matches abroad with support from several cricket organizations. They also attended the opening match of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup and are expected to travel to Britain ahead of an ICC meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ordway said the Afghan women’s team was not formally included on the agenda of the upcoming ICC discussions, though she expressed hope that their presence could increase pressure on cricket officials.
“I’m hopeful their presence there at the same time will help put pressure on the ICC to make positive decisions,” she said.
The issue has become increasingly sensitive for the ICC because Afghanistan remains a full member of the organization through its men’s team, even as women’s cricket inside the country has effectively disappeared under Taliban rule.
Human rights advocates and some national cricket boards have repeatedly called on the ICC to take a firmer stance on Afghanistan’s exclusion of women from sports.
Ordway said international sports bodies should send a stronger message against what she described as the Taliban’s “gender apartheid.”
“It’s really important to send a strong message that the Taliban’s position on women is completely unacceptable,” she said.
