How should the cricketing world handle Afghanistan?

The outgoing ICC chair, Greg Barclay, last month accused Cricket Australia of hypocrisy over their bilateral series boycott and backed the ICC’s decision to allow Afghanistan’s men’s team to compete. “If you really want to make a political statement, don’t play them in a World Cup,” he said. “I don’t think it would make a jot of difference to the ruling party there to kick them out of the ICC,” he added.

“It is essential for our sisters and mothers to have access to care provided by medical professionals who truly understand their needs,” Khan posted on social media. “Providing education to all is not just a societal responsibility but a moral obligation deeply rooted in our faith and values.”

The rise of Afghanistan’s men’s team has been “one of the great cricket stories of this century”, said The Telegraph.

Now activists including the Women’s Rights Network are calling on Keir Starmer to extend that and support a “blanket boycott of Afghanistan across all sports”. “How in all conscience can this game go ahead?” said Janice Turner in The Times. Afghanistan is clearly in breach of ICC rules, but more to the point the Taliban is practising “gender apartheid”. When South Africa did the same “along racial lines, it rightly suffered sporting boycotts”. The Taliban love cricket, so boycotting it would be a “rare way to sanction its monstrous regime”, Turner said. “Shame on any Englishman who plays ball with apartheid next month.”

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