The Taliban's love for cricket, and ICC's dilemma

Afghanistan's national cricket team was quite lucky to participate in the ongoing T20 World Cup championship in the UAE. Next time, the 11-member squad may not be able to compete in such a high profile game because the International Cricket Council (ICC) is yet to decide whether to suspend the Afghan team's membership or let them play. 

The reason? The ICC - the global governing body for cricket - does not recognise the Taliban as a legitimate ruling force in Afghanistan. 

A source on Afghanistan's Cricket Board told TRT World that because the ICC had drafted the match fixtures for the T20 World Cup before the Taliban took over Kabul on August 15, they could not disqualify the team at the last minute.

The Taliban also had a bone to pick with the ICC. They wanted the governing body to replace the Afghan flag with its own, plus they requested changes to the country's national anthem.

"They wanted players to sing the anthem without music," the cricket board official, who wished to remain anonymous, said.  

The two sides eventually resolved their differences, allowing the Afghan team to participate in the championship. 

"For the ICC, it was not an easy choice to disqualify the Afghan team at the last minute. They had to set their politics aside. They knew they would lose tens of thousands of TV viewers and hundreds of live spectators who love to watch world-famous Afghan cricketers like Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi and Mujeeb Zadran play," the board official added.   

And for the Taliban, letting the team compete in the T20 world championship was in line with the group's attempts to legitimise their rule in the eyes of the world. 

A few weeks before the World Cup games began, however, speculations were rife that the Taliban might ban the cricket team from playing in the oil-rich kingdom. 

But those fears were allayed on October 6, when Qatar's foreign ministry granted permission, at the request of the Taliban’s interim government, for the Afghanistan team to take part in a training camp ahead of the World Cup. Afghans inside and outside their home country rejoiced. 

The Afghan national team is now playing in Group 2 of the World Cup along with Pakistan, India, New Zealand, Scotland and Namibia. Its first win against Scotland on October 25 sparked massive celebrations in Afghanistan, which contrasted sharply with the general uncertainty in the country. 

During the initial stage, the team showed promise, winning two games out of four, and in the process they proved to be a uniting factor in a deeply fragmented Afghan society. Taliban leaders, ex-government officials, and several politicians - including former presidents - congratulated the team. For a fleeting moment, the countrywide celebrations blurred the lines of ideological divisions.

This is even more impressive considering professional cricket in Afghanistan is a relatively recent phenomenon. It emerged mainly in the refugee camps in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa during the mid-1990s. In the last two decades cricket has seen major progress, and today it is the most popular sport in the country. 

Sports minus women

It wasn't always an easy road. During Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, men’s sport was strictly controlled in Afghanistan, while women were barred entirely from playing any sport. In addition, the Taliban asked sportsmen to wear “appropriate” clothes and prohibited games during prayer times. 

Today, though, the Taliban says things are different. The group’s current head of the National Olympic Committee, Nazar Mohammad Mutmaeen, told TRT World that no sports are currently banned in Afghanistan. 

“Currently, there are 52 athletic federations under the Olympic Committee in the country that consist of different sports. Not even a single sport is banned. All federations are active and running.”

Mutmaeen emphasized that various sports played during the past 20 years will be played under Taliban rule — minus women.

“We respect the International Olympic Committee’s rules and regulations and we are ready to work with them.”

Then there was the issue of international conflict. Before cricket became a popular game throughout Afghanistan, it was treated more like a Pakistani sport. 

“After I came to Afghanistan (from Pakistan) in 2001, a lot of people in Kabul didn’t know much about cricket. People thought it was a Pakistani game,” former Afghan cricketer Raees Ahmadzai told TRT World. Ahmadzai is currently the head coach of Afghanistan’s Under-19 cricket team. 

This perception was changed after Afghanistan’s cricket team earned international achievements. “Cricket then became the number one most popular sport,” Ahmadzai added.

Interestingly, it was during the Taliban’s first rule in Afghanistan that the national cricket team traveled to Pakistan in its first ever foreign trip. The event paved the way for the Afghanistan Cricket Federation (currently Afghanistan Cricket Board) to then engage with the Asian Cricket Council.  

Established in 1995 by Afghan players, the Afghanistan Cricket Federation was recognized under the Taliban’s Olympic Committee. However, the recognition was initially rejected as officials in the Olympic Committee considered cricket a Pakistani game. 

At the time, the Taliban government did not have a budget for sports. As a result, the Afghan cricket players and leadership sought funds from various embassies and merchants. It was thus ordinary people who played a more significant role in promoting the game than previous Afghan governments.

“In the beginning, we didn’t have the government’s support, and there were no grounds and sports academies in the country,” the former national cricket player Ahmadzai explained. 

“It was more of the efforts of cricket players and the Cricket Federation leadership at that time that helped Afghanistan’s cricket grow.”

Then there's the thorny issue of women and the Taliban. The nation's membership in the International Olympic Committee was suspended in 1999 because it didn’t include any women's sports. This was due to the Taliban’s overall ban on women in athletics. Afghanistan was subsequently banned from the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney.

Today the Taliban stresses its commitment to national cricket. A senior Taliban member, Anas Haqqani, was among the first to travel to Kabul from Doha, Qatar, after the Taliban took control of the capital. During his first meetings in Kabul, he met with Afghanistan’s national cricket players and provided them assurance about security and continued support.

Raees Ahmadzai, the former cricketer, says they have not encountered any problems after the fall of the former government. “They (the Taliban) have provided reassurance to cricket players. So there is no problem yet.” 

“During the new government, our Under-19 cricket team travelled to Bangladesh and won the match,” he said.

Ahmadzai also mentioned that the Cricket Board, Afghanistan’s official governing body of cricket, has not received any communication that implies the Taliban’s interference in cricket.

Naseeb Khan Zadran, the Cricket Board CEO, told TRT World that the Taliban’s government has provided necessary support to the country’s team.

The national cricket team would have missed the T20 World Cup if the new government did not facilitate their travel to Qatar, says Zadran.

The board’s Media Manager, Abdullah Khan Paktani, said the Taliban’s government had supported the board in implementing the International Cricket Council’s requirement for participation at the World Cup championship. “The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan has so far respected the principle of separating sports from politics,” he said.

The Under-19 cricket team head coach stated that the cricket players have made outstanding achievements in different categories and therefore, "cricket should be supported.”

“No one should have a problem with this sport,” he said. “It will be wise to pay more attention to the sport.”