Cricket Australia won’t play this team over women’s rights. Some say it’s punishing the wrong people

Cricket Australia's decision to withdraw from matches with Afghanistan is "not good news" for people who have already "suffered enough from the Taliban's actions", critics say.

Afghanistan fans at the T20 World Cup cricket match between Australia and Afghanistan in Adelaide last November. Cricket Australia has cancelled the men's team's ODI series against Afghanistan in the UAE. Source: AAP, AP / James Elsby

KEY POINTS

• Cricket Australia said the decision to withdraw from matches with Afghanistan was due to the Taliban's treatment of women and girls.
• The Taliban has, among other things, restricted their right to education and employment opportunities.
• Some have criticised the decision, while others are in support of the move.

One of the women involved in developing the Afghan women's cricket team has joined the chorus of criticism of Cricket Australia's move to withdraw from upcoming One Day International (ODI) series matches with Afghanistan, with others labelling it an unfair move that punishes the wrong people.

Australia's national cricket body announced the move on Thursday, which it said was due to the Taliban's treatment of women.

The Taliban has restricted access to education and employment opportunities for women and girls, as well as their ability to access parks and gyms, since their return to power last year despite having initially promised a less extreme version of the rule that characterised their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

The decision is "not good news for all Afghans", said Tuba Sangar, Afghanistan's former women's cricket development manager.

Ms Sangar fears Cricket Australia's decision could lead to other teams cancelling matches, which could lead to Afghanistan losing its International Cricket Council (ICC) membership.

"And we did not get the full membership [of the ICC] easily. Afghan women have also sacrificed a lot to get the full membership," she told SBS News.

The Taliban announced in September 2021 that women would be banned from playing cricket.

Samandar Khan, a local Afghan who plays cricket in Adelaide, told SBS News that Afghans have already "suffered enough from the Taliban" and Cricket Australia's decision is taking away "the last thing that makes them happy".

"Afghans have suffered enough from the Taliban's actions," he said.

Mr Khan said no one in the Afghan community in Australia supports the Taliban's treatment of women and the decision to boycott the series is "punishing the wrong people".

He said governments should pressure the Taliban to reform their stance towards women, but through channels separate from the sport.

"I'm pleading Cricket Australia to reconsider their decision," he said. "This is the Taliban's decision made against women, not of the Afghan communities here in Australia."

Women playing cricket in Herat, Afghanistan in 2015. Source: AFP / Aref Karimi via Getty Images

Afghan cricket star Rashid Khan also condemned Cricket Australia's move. In a tweet, he said cricket was "the only hope" for Afghanistan and that politics should be kept out of it.

Khan said he will be "strongly considering" his position in Australia's Big Bash League (BBL), where he plays for the Adelaide Strikers, following the boycott.

But while some have expressed their dismay at the decision, women and human rights advocates have praised it.

The world must continue to show its "support" and "solidarity" with the women of Afghanistan in actions like Cricket Australia's, Zubaida Akbar, an Afghan women's rights activist, told SBS News.

"When women are banned from playing sports, why should men be allowed to represent a country that erases women?" she said.

"In a country where women are not only banned from playing sports, but they are banned from learning, working, moving freely, and accessing basic health care services, not a single athlete from the male cricket team raised their voice and used their platforms to show solidarity and support for women and for marginalized ethnic and religious groups under attack."

Ms Akbar condemned the men's team for previously posing for photos with and "appeasing" Taliban members.

Nikita White from Amnesty International Australia told SBS News that sporting bodies should use their platform to put pressure against rights abuses.

She said women have been "erased from public life in Afghanistan" and like during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, awareness must be drawn to bring change.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board said in a statement on Thursday that it was "extremely disappointed and saddened" by Cricket Australia's "pathetic" decision, and said it would consider withdrawing Afghan players from the BBL if the move was not reversed.

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said it was "clearly a very challenging and sad situation," but stood by the decision.

"Basic human rights is not politics," he told SBS News on Friday.

"We remain committed to supporting growing the game for women and men around the world and hope that improved conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan means that we can resume bilateral cricket in the not-too-distant future..

Australia had been set to meet Afghanistan in the United Arab Emirates for three ODI series matches in March.