Afghan women demand cricket’s governing body takes stand against Taliban
Cricket’s governing body is under fire from Afghan women after being banned from playing by the Taliban, while men have continued competing.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) has been accused of making “unfair decisions” following the deterioration of women’s rights under Afghanistan’s hardline rulers.
Now political pressure has been growing, including from more than 160 MPs and peers, for the England men’s cricket team to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan next month.
A total of 25 female players, who were selected to train in 2020 with the plan that they would eventually represent Afghanistan before the Taliban took over in 2021, are living in exile in Australia.
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Why people want cricket match boycotted
Firooza Amiri is one of those players now based in Melbourne.
While she escaped with her parents and siblings to a new life, her extended family remain at home and she believes now more than ever a female cricket team representing Afghanistan would give women of the country some hope.
“It is heartbreaking for me. I have all my freedoms, they can’t have their basic rights. I have an aunt who dreamed of being a teacher her whole life and she got a contract with a school in 2020 and in 2021 the Taliban took power. After they took over, she got a very deep depression and every time I talk to her she is always crying.
“Girls are growing up without education, they are forced to get married at 14. These things are heartbreaking for me. Women are living in a very horrible situation. Afghanistan went back to a very past time. All the countries are improving and celebrating equality but in Afghanistan there is not something like equality.”
When the players fled they had yet to play an international match.
Women’s cricket in the country was just beginning, now it has been snuffed out completely, even though the ICC rules state that women’s cricket must be supported by member nations.
Amiri says the ICC must ‘turn their face to the women of Afghanistan’
Amiri doesn’t think that a boycott of a match or a complete boycott of the Afghanistan men’s team is the way forward, but is in no doubt the ICC has not gone into bat for the Afghan women’s team.
“At the end of the day all of the decisions come from the ICC and it’s been unfair decisions from the ICC for us. We sent a letter to the ICC, they never respond to us. They make excuses, they always say having a women’s Afghanistan team is complicated. It is not complicated, it’s as simple as ‘we want to have a team’ – it’s very easy.
“The ICC must stop making unfair decisions and turn their face to the women of Afghanistan. We are here, we just dream to play cricket for our country.”
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As far as the ICC is concerned the matter isn’t closed, but it’s hard to see how it can be resolved in the near future.
An ICC spokesperson statement said: “The ICC remains closely engaged with the situation in Afghanistan and continues to collaborate with our members. We are committed to leveraging our influence constructively to support the ACB [Afghanistan Cricket Board] in fostering cricket development and ensuring playing opportunities for both men and women in Afghanistan.
“The ICC has established the Afghanistan Cricket Task Force, chaired by deputy chairman Mr Imran Khwaja, who will lead the ongoing dialogue on this matter.”
We asked to speak to Mr Khwaja to get an update and the ICC are looking into that.
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‘Governing bodies of sport have failed’
The response from Amiri though is openly critical. “The ICC as an international council has never reached out to us. We are national players. They’ve never been to help. I think in general the ICC only focus on the men’s team… it doesn’t matter which country. The ICC is always talking about equality but there is no equality that the ICC should celebrate.”
But she does not want the Afghanistan men’s team, who are ranked 8th in the world for One Day Internationals, to be banned.
“They tried so hard to get where they are today,” she said, adding that they also “had the support of the ICC” to achieve that.
The ruling Taliban have banned women from sports. File pic: AP
The Afghanistan female players would like to play as a refugee team, but even this has been refused for now.
Amiri said: “We just want to represent Afghanistan as long as we are on the ground, on the field. Every time we play we are not just playing for ourselves but millions of girls who are still in Afghanistan.
“We just want to make sure Afghanistan women do not feel forgotten.”
World
Trump criticises Putin after potentially ‘historic’ meeting with Zelenskyy before Pope’s funeral
Donald Trump has criticised Vladimir Putin and suggested a shift in his stance towards the Russian president after a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy before the Pope’s funeral.
The Ukrainian president said the one-on-one talks could prove to be “historic” after pictures showed him sitting opposite Mr Trump, around two feet apart, in the large marble hall inside St Peter’s Basilica.
The US president said he doubted his Russian counterpart’s willingness to end the war after leaving Rome after the funeral of Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Follow live updates: 200,000 mourn at Vatican
In a post on his Truth Social platform, he said “there was no reason” for the Russian president “to be shooting missiles into civilian areas, cities and towns, over the last few days”.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
He added: “It makes me think that maybe he doesn’t want to stop the war, he’s just tapping me along, and has to be dealt with differently, through ‘Banking’ or ‘Secondary Sanctions?’ Too many people are dying!!!”
The meeting between the US and Ukrainian leaders was their first face-to-face encounter since a very public row in the Oval Office in February.
Mr Zelenskyy said he had a good meeting with Mr Trump in which they talked about the defence of the Ukrainian people, a full and unconditional ceasefire, and a durable and lasting peace that would prevent the war restarting.
Other images released by the Ukrainian president’s office show Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron were present for part of the talks, which were described as “positive” by the French presidency.
Mr Zelenskyy‘s spokesman said the meeting lasted for around 15 minutes and he and Mr Trump had agreed to hold further discussions later on Saturday.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy meet in the Basilica
But the US president left Rome for Washington on Air Force One soon after the funeral without any other talks having taken place.
The Ukrainian president’s office said there was no second meeting in Rome because of the tight schedule of both leaders, although he had separate discussions with Mr Starmer and Mr Macron.
The French president said in a post on X “Ukraine is ready for an unconditional ceasefire” and that a so-called coalition of the willing, led by the UK and France, would continue working to achieve a lasting peace.
There was applause from some of the other world leaders in attendance at the Vatican when Mr Zelenskyy walked out of St Peter’s Basilica after stopping in front of the pontiff’s coffin to pay his respects.
Donald Trump and the Ukrainian president met for the first time since their Oval Office row. Pic: Reuters
Sir Tony Brenton, the former British ambassador to Russia, said the event presents diplomatic opportunities, including the “biggest possible meeting” between Mr Trump and the Ukrainian leader.
He told Sky News it could mark “an important step” in starting the peace process between Russia and Ukraine.
Professor Father Francesco Giordano told Sky News the meeting is being called “Pope Francis’s miracle” by members of the clergy, adding: “There’s so many things that happened today – it was just overwhelming.”
The bilateral meeting comes after Mr Trump’s peace negotiator Steve Witkoff held talks with Mr Putin at the Kremlin.
They discussed “the possibility of resuming direct negotiations between Russia and Ukraine”, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
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Russia and Ukraine have not held direct talks since the early weeks of the war, which began in February 2022.
Mr Trump has claimed a deal to end the war is “very close” and has urged Mr Zelenskyy to “get it done” in a post on his Truth Social platform.
He has previously warned both sides his administration would walk away from its efforts to achieve a peace if the two sides do not agree a deal soon.
Meanwhile, the Polish armed forces said a Russian military helicopter violated its airspace over the Baltic Sea on Friday evening.
“The nature of the incident indicates that Russia is testing the readiness of our air defence systems,” they said in a post on X.
On an extraordinary day, remarkable pictures on the margins that capture what may be a turning point for the world.
In a corner of St Peter’s Basilica before the funeral of Pope Francis, the leaders of America and Ukraine sit facing each other in two solitary chairs.
They look like confessor and sinner except we cannot tell which one is which.
Leaning forward hands together in their laps, Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy stare at each other in one photo.
In another, the Ukrainian president seems to be remonstrating with the US president. This is their first encounter since their infamous bust-up in the Oval Office.
The two leaders held talks before attending the Pope’s funeral
Other pictures show the moment their French and British counterparts introduced the two men. There is a palpable sense of nervousness in the way the leaders engage.
We do not know what the two presidents said in their brief meeting.
But in the mind of the Ukrainian leader will be the knowledge President Trump has this week said America will reward Russia for its unprovoked brutal invasion of his country, under any peace deal.
Mr Trump has presented Ukraine and Russia with a proposal and ultimatum so one-sided it could have been written in the Kremlin.
Kyiv must surrender the land Russia has taken by force, Crimea forever, the rest at least for now. And it must submit to an act of extortion, a proposed deal that would hand over half its mineral wealth effectively to America.
The world leaders shared a moment before the service
Afterwards, Zelenskyy said it had been a good meeting that could turn out to be historic “if we reach results together”.
They had talked, he said, about the defence of Ukraine, a full and unconditional ceasefire and a durable and lasting peace that will prevent a war restarting.
The Trump peace proposal includes only unspecified security guarantees for Ukraine from countries that do not include the US. It rules out any membership of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s allies are watching closely to see if Mr Trump will apply any pressure on Vladimir Putin, let alone punish him for recent bloody attacks on Ukraine.
Or will he simply walk away if the proposal fails, blaming Ukrainian intransigence, however outrageously, before moving onto a rapprochement with Moscow.
If he does, America’s role as guarantor of international security will be seen effectively as over.
This could be the week we see the world order as we have known it since the end of the Second World War buried, as well as a pope.
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