England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) chief Richard Gould has written to his International Cricket Council (ICC) counterpart urging the sport’s global governing body to consider taking action against the Afghanistan Cricket Board over the Taliban government’s treatment of women.
Earlier this week, a group of more than 160 politicians, including Nigel Farage, Jeremy Corbyn and Lord Kinnock, signed a letter encouraging England to boycott next month’s Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan and take a stand against the Taliban regime’s assault on women’s rights.
Meanwhile, UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called for the ICC to “deliver their own rules”, with the Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saying the match “should go ahead” as not to penalise the England team, but suggested that British dignitaries should snub the event.
“What is taking place in Afghanistan is the worst violation of women’s rights anywhere on earth,” Gould wrote.
“The ECB has maintained its position of not scheduling any bilateral cricket matches against Afghanistan. We had hoped, when voicing this concern two years it would drive the debate to further action, but unfortunately, this has not been seen.
“While many of our domestic stakeholders continue to call for a boycott of our fixture in the Champions Trophy, a coordinated, ICC-led approach would be significantly more impactful than unilateral actions by individual members.
“We want to work with you and other members to find a solution that provides hope that the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan can be restored.”
The Afghanistan women’s cricket team fled the country in August 2021 and most of them currently reside in Australia
Gould also urged the ICC to urgently consider “placing an immediate condition on the membership status of the Afghanistan Cricket Board to deliver women’s cricket by a certain deadline” and to ringfence a “meaningful proportion” of the ACB’s funding until the women’s game is reinstated.
Female participation in sport has effectively been outlawed since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, a move that puts the ACB in direct contravention of the rules of cricket’s governing body.
The women’s cricket team fled the country, seeking refuge in Pakistan before they were granted emergency visas for Australia, where most of them currently reside.
Under Taliban rule, payments to the women’s side were cut off and the team has received no communication from cricket chiefs despite multiple attempts at making contact.
Afghanistan’s female athletes had their homes raided by the Taliban and some of them were forced to burn their kits
Gould has also called on the ICC to support the exiled women’s team “through funding and advocacy to allow them to compete as an Afghanistan Refugee team,” a model which was adopted by the International Olympic Committee for the 2024 Paris Games.
In 2021, the ICC established an Afghanistan Working Group to help influence change and monitor the situation in the country.
However, the entire board was all-male and following a meeting in 2023, the cricket chiefs significantly raised Afghanistan’s budget whilst providing no update on the women’s team.
Another condition Gould outlined in his letter was to: “Reform the existing Afghanistan Working Group to monitor and oversee this work, by providing regular and objective assessment of the progress of the Afghanistan Cricket Board.
“This group could seek the views of experts on this topic, to upskill and empower leaders to make informed and supported decisions.
“If we do not take the actions that are within our power to take – whilst recognising that much is not in our power – we are all complicit and have failed the privilege that comes with holding a global leadership position in our sport.”
