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England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chairman Richard Gould has written to the president of the International Cricket Council (ICC) urging the sport’s global governing body to consider challenging the Afghanistan Cricket Board over the Taliban government’s treatment of women way to take action.
Earlier this week, more than 160 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock, signed a letter The letter encouraged England to boycott next month’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan and to speak out against the Taliban regime’s violation of women’s rights.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called on the ICC to “set its own rules” and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the match “should go ahead” so as not to punish the England team, but advised British politicians to ignore the incident .
“What is happening in Afghanistan is the worst violation of women’s rights on earth,” Gould wrote.
“The ECB maintains its position not to schedule any bilateral cricket matches against Afghanistan. We had hoped that in raising this concern two years ago it would drive the debate towards further action but unfortunately this has not happened.
“While many of our domestic stakeholders continue to call for a boycott of our matches in the Champions League, an ICC-led coordinated approach will be more impactful than unilateral actions by individual members.
“We hope to work with you and other members to find a solution that brings hope that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan will be restored.”
The Afghan women’s cricket team fled the country in August 2021 and most of them now live in Australia
Gould also urged the International Cricket Council to urgently consider “immediately imposing conditions on Afghanistan Cricket Board’s membership to provide women’s cricket for a certain period” and to limit ACB funding until women’s cricket resumes “with the intention of part of the meaning”.
Women’s participation in sport has been effectively banned since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, a move that puts the ACB in direct breach of cricket’s governing body’s rules.
The women’s cricket team fled the country, seeking asylum in Pakistan before being granted emergency visas to Australia, where most of them currently live.
Payments to the women’s team were cut off under Taliban rule and the team has not received any information from the Cricket Chiefs despite repeated attempts to contact them.
Afghan female athletes’ homes were attacked by the Taliban, and some were forced to burn their equipment
Gould also called on the ICC to support the exiled women’s team “through funding and advocacy to enable them to compete as a team of Afghan refugees”, a model already adopted by the International Olympic Committee for the 2024 Paris Olympics.
In 2021, the ICC established an Afghanistan Working Group to help influence change and monitor the situation in the country.
However, the entire board is made up of men and after a meeting in 2023, cricket captains significantly increased Afghanistan’s budget without providing an update on the women’s team.
Another condition outlined in Gould’s letter: “Reform the existing Afghanistan working group to monitor and oversee the work through regular and objective assessments of the Afghanistan Cricket Board’s progress.
“The group can seek expert advice on the topic to upskill and empower leaders to make informed and supported decisions.
“If we don’t take action within our power – while recognizing that there is nothing we can do – we are all complicit and lose the privilege that comes with maintaining global leadership in our sport.”
