‘We should show the world we exist despite the Taliban’
Belief that Afghan women’s cricket will survive is strong despite recent anguish, writes Tim Wigmore
Eight months after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the future of the country’s women cricketers remains unclear. And yet, for some Afghan women who fled the country, the start of a new cricket season is a source of comfort.
“It’s exactly what I want,” says Roya Samim, who is looking forward to making her debut for Fredericton Cricket Club in New Brunswick, Canada, next month. Just over a year ago, Samim was one of 25 women awarded contracts by the Afghan Cricket Board (ACB). “It was a nice moment that I’ll never forget,” says the 29-year-old. Last August she was playing cricket as an opening batter in Kabul, the squad training together for up to eight hours a day.
Things were going well. “Slowly people accepted us and they appreciated us even when we go to the street with the bat and the ball – they are just excited,” she says. On one occasion, Rashid Khan, Afghanistan’s Indian Premier League hero, even joined them for lunch and spoke in support of women and girls playing cricket.
But just as the Afghan women’s players were living their dream, a nightmare began closing in. With Taliban forces nearing, Samim’s match was cancelled, and the director of the Afghan women’s team voiced her concerns for the future. “She said there is no guarantee – you should leave because no one’s safe now,” says Samim.
Within 24 hours, Samim and her two sisters boarded a flight from Kabul to Canada. Two days later, the
Taliban had resumed power. “We left everything and started from zero.”
Most – some believe all – of the 25 Afghan contracted women players managed to get out, and are now scattered around the world, playing cricket where they can.
Tuba Sangar, a former women’s development officer for the ACB in 2014 and 2018, also fled to Canada as the Taliban approached.
Now she is urging the International
Cricket
Council to help organise friendly matches involving the exiled players who used to have national contracts.
“They tell us to fly, fly, fly, and suddenly the Taliban come and close the door,” says Sangar, 29. “It’s so difficult – emotionally they are damaged and they need help.
“I think the ICC can arrange some matches for the players, and the ICC should give them a special coach. We should show the world that we all exist.
“They can bring them to India to play cricket. If we have some matches, maybe we can send a message to the world that we all exist and they should raise their voice for Afghan girls. Right now we need that.
“The Taliban can stop us from playing in Afghanistan, but they cannot stop us from playing in other countries. So we should give that opportunity for girls to play.”
There is no indication that the ICC would consider such a step. As a members’ organisation, ultimately the ACB represents Afghanistan.
Since the Taliban’s return, the ICC’S focus in Afghanistan has been on trying to ensure that the sport is not lost to the country. But simply working out who is in charge has been a problem: at the ICC’S board meeting in November, two separate groups turned up claiming to represent Afghanistan. The ICC has changed how it funds Afghan cricket – rather than money going to the board for it to distribute, the ICC now funds all cricket activities directly.
Yet the greatest question facing the ICC has concerned the women’s game.
The contradiction between the world governing body’s avowed emphasis on women’s cricket, and one of its 12 full-member nations barring girls from studying after the age of 11 is inescapable. After the Taliban’s return, the ICC faced calls to ban the Afghanistan men’s team while the women’s side remained unable to play. But there is no indication that a boycott is being seriously considered. In any case, both the ICC board and the women’s cricket committee believe this would destroy the sport’s capacity to do good in the country.
Samim and Sangar both support this stance. “The Afghanistan men’s team is the only thing that can bring smiles,” Samim says. “I appreciate them – they should continue.”
The ICC’S criteria for fullmember status include multiple references to aspiring full members having a vibrant women’s set-up, including a national side achieving a certain level of success. Yet after Afghanistan were elevated in 2017, special dispensation was granted on account of cultural circumstances to bypass these requirements. As such Afghanistan’s women’s side have never played an official match. This month, the ICC’S Afghanistan working group updated the board on the state of the game in the country.
The group received assurances from the ACB that it would submit a full action plan and budget to develop the women’s game at the ICC’S annual conference in July. But those familiar with the Taliban consider women’s cricket antithetical to the regime. There are no known accounts of women’s cricket being played in the country since last August. “Before the Taliban everything was good – the girls were going to school,” Sangar says. “Now they are not allowed to go to school so how can they play cricket? It’s a nightmare.”
Yet for all the tragedy and anguish of the past year, there remains a defiance that, in some form, Afghan women’s cricket will survive. “Everyone has their goals and aspirations in their life. I have this plan that one day Afghanistan will have their women’s team and I will play in it,” Samim says. “I will always fight for our team to come
‘The Taliban can stop us from playing at home, but they cannot stop us in other countries’