Image Credit- AP
After consulting
with the Australian government, Cricket Australia decided to postpone a
three-match T20I series against Afghanistan because of “a marked
deterioration in human rights for women and girls” in the nation.
Australia’s current men’s Future Tours Programme included three matches against
Afghanistan at a neutral location in August. But CA decided to postpone the
series, as they had done with the intended ODI series in March 2023 and the
first Test match between the two countries in 2021, citing human rights
concerns.
Rashid Khan
threatened to withdraw from the BBL because it was decided to postpone the ODI
series in 2023, but he later backtracked and joined the draft instead, missing
the competition due to injury.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, CA said that it had discussed the human
rights situation for women and girls in Afghanistan with the Australian
government and that it had learned that there had been a “marked
deterioration” in women’s rights since the 2023 series had been postponed.
“Over the past
12 months CA has continued to consult with the Australian government on the
situation in Afghanistan,” the statement said. “The government’s
advice is that conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan are getting worse.
For this reason, we have maintained our previous position and will postpone the
bilateral series against Afghanistan.
“CA continues its strong commitment to supporting participation by women
and girls in cricket around the world and will continue to actively engage the
ICC and work closely with the Afghanistan Cricket Board to determine what
actions could be taken to support the resumption of bilateral matches in the
future.”
Australia have
played Afghanistan in two World Cup fixtures in the past two years, which drew
criticism from Naveen-ul-Haq on social media. CA has previously stated that
they would not boycott playing Afghanistan in the ICC events because
“there is a distinction between playing bilateral series against
Afghanistan which falls under CA control as compared to playing in a World Cup
tournament which is an ICC event and subject to their regulations.”