What’s Behind Cricket Australia’s Refusal to Play Afghanistan?

In mid-January, Cricket Australia decided to cancel a scheduled series of games against Afghanistan that was supposed to be held in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) – where Afghanistan now plays their “home” games. The reason cited was the ongoing appalling treatment of women by the Taliban government in Kabul. The boycott has raised the question of whether sporting events legitimize governments that are responsible for human rights violations – and whether countries like Australia are being selective in whom they boycott.

Every member country of the International Cricket Council (ICC) must have structures for women’s cricket. Prior to the Taliban’s takeover, Afghanistan was able to meet this criteria, but obviously since then women have been prevented from playing, and all women’s organized sporting structures have been dismantled. However, until Australia’s decision to boycott its games against Afghanistan, this criteria had been ignored by the ICC. Afghanistan recently participated in the T20 World Cup, held in Australia in October and November.

Afghanistan is one of cricket’s incredible success stories of recent years, rising from having almost no serious cricket organization and infrastructure two decades ago to currently being ranked ninth in the world in One-Day Internationals. The sport has rapidly become an obsession in the country. This is a success that the ICC is reluctant to disturb.

However, the situation is more complex than Australia’s boycott of Afghanistan might suggest. Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, the men’s cricket team has continued to play under the black, red, and green flag of the now defunct Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, rather than the white flag of the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. This could make the Afghanistan cricket team a symbol of resistance to the Taliban – having a role similar to, although not as vocal as, the Afghan embassies around the world that are still occupied by staff from the Islamic Republic and use the resources of these embassies to try and undermine the Taliban. The Afghan Embassy in Australia is particularly active in its opposition to the Taliban, for example.

Given the popularity of cricket in Afghanistan, the Taliban tolerate the sport (for men at least). Even a regime as hostile to the country’s own citizens as the Taliban would think twice about trying to force the team to its will, knowing the public most likely care more for cricket than they do the Taliban. No attempts have been made to force the team to play under the Taliban’s flag, for instance. The Taliban are probably aware that the ICC and other countries wouldn’t accept such a move.

But the power that the sport now has in Afghanistan makes it a point of weakness for the Taliban, one that can be exploited. This is what Australia is hoping to achieve. The banning of South Africa from international cricket in 1970 was deemed an important pressure point on the Apartheid government. The suppression and persecution of women should be viewed no differently to that of ethnic groups. The Taliban has created a gendered Apartheid in Afghanistan.

However, this pressure will rely on the Afghan public – and the players themselves – focusing their disappointment at missing out on international games on the Taliban, rather than on the countries that now refuse to play them: only Australia, so far. From reactions to date, it seems that both Afghan players and fans have blamed Australia for this development and not the Taliban. Fans are wondering why it is now that Australia has decided to take a stand, when Afghanistan was able to play in Australia only a few months ago.

This is an understandable reaction. Given that cricket is one of the few outlets of joy in Afghanistan at the moment, there is an argument that a refusal to play against the Afghan team punishes the public more than it does the Taliban. It also gives the impression that the West is further abandoning the Afghan people when their plight needs greater public exposure, not less. The fear may be that Afghanistan will be forgotten altogether after the fleeting headlines of Australia’s boycott.

For Australia’s boycott against playing Afghanistan to be successful in creating pressure on the Taliban, other countries must follow suit. India was the driving force behind the ban of Apartheid South Africa, but given that it has forged strong links with the Afghanistan cricket team in its battle for regional influence with Pakistan, this is ground it is unlikely to cede. These days, nothing of any substance in cricket happens without India’s approval and participation.

This may leave Australia as a lone voice of protest, and one not substantial enough to have any great effect. It also poses the question of whether Australia will be consistent in how it approaches sporting events against other countries with significant human rights abuses – or whether Afghanistan is simply a team Australia can do without playing.