“Afghanistan’s cricket board does not support cricket for women, even though I have 3,700 girl cricketers across Afghanistan”
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Just four years after it was formed, the Afghanistan women’s cricket team has been dissolved due to Taliban threats, insecurity and conservative beliefs.
As a result of all those problems, the women’s team have had a shortage of players for a number of years now.
“It does not exist,” Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) chairman Nasimullah Danish said. “The situation is not very much prepared for developing women’s cricket in Afghanistan.”
However, the founder of the women’s team, Diana Barakzai, who resigned in April, blamed the ACB for holding beliefs that women should not be allowed to leave the house unescorted and that they should not be given the opportunity to learn how to play the game.
“Afghanistan’s cricket board does not support cricket for women, even though I have 3,700 girl cricketers across Afghanistan,” Barakzai said. “I hope their attitude will change.”
But, the one problem Afghanistan faces when it comes to cricket is the fact that they will not be promoted to a Full Member nation unless they have a women’s team since it is one of the requirements.
However, Danish noted that it will not be easy to promote women’s cricket in the country, especially since the Taliban have made numerous threats if they find women playing the sport.
“(The Taliban) said ‘you should not develop women’s cricket, it is not in Islam, it is not in Afghanistan culture,” Danish said when talking about a phone call he received from a Taliban member. “If you do so, we will not be responsible for your players’.”
According to Tuba Sangar, who is in charge of the women’s department at the ACB, insecurity is another problem that has led to the demise of women’s cricket.
“Every day, every week there are bombs,” Sangar said. “When these security problems are happening, how can the families deal with it? They don’t let their daughters come and play cricket.”
Meanwhile, Danish also accused Barakzai of running the women’s team, which includes members of her own family, for personal gain.
Responding to the comments made by Danish, Barakzai scoffed and pointed out that the ACB have been misusing aid money given to them by the United States.
While Danish confirmed that he was investigating these claims, he added that he has not uncovered any corruption within the board as of yet.