“handThere are all kinds of lines here that you can draw. We draw the line. ” Cricket Australia chairman Mike Baird explained last month when explaining the governing body’s position on the match against Afghanistan, which has just banned women from looking out of windows.
According to a new Taliban government ordinance, no new buildings may be built with windows that allow women to be seen. Existing buildings with windows must be walled off or covered. Government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said: “Seeing a woman working in the kitchen or courtyard or fetching water from a well could amount to indecent acts.”
Currently, Cricket Australia, along with the England and Wales Cricket Board, has refused to schedule a bilateral series with Afghanistan over concerns about the “deterioration of fundamental human rights for women in Afghanistan”. . But confusingly, both countries are perfectly happy playing in global competitions – Australia at last year’s Twenty20 World Cup and England at next month’s Champions Trophy.
No matter how you look at it, this is a strangely accurate place to draw your moral boundaries. Our interest in Afghan women and girls apparently began with 1.5 matches of cricket. Playing more than one game at once: unconscionable collusion in a murderous, misogynistic medieval death cult. Less than 2 people: Okay, good luck everyone.
At that point, we encounter the ambiguity and realpolitik of the cricket world and the opposition to the Afghan sports boycott. That’s because it would bring little tangible benefit and erase the hope and joy that the men’s team has generated over the past 20 years. .
“I don’t see much difference in the ruling party getting rid of them,” outgoing International Cricket Council chairman Greg Barclay said last month. It must be said that this is a fairly high hurdle for sports activities. Wave the flag, obviously. But until you can actually literally defeat the Taliban, stop wasting your time.
Against the broader backdrop of Rashid Khan being able to play in the next T20 World Cup, as if the dignity and humanity of 20 million Afghan women were simply acceptable collateral damage, the government’s charges We are warned not to punish this talented men’s team. In any case, we are reminded that there was little culture of women’s cricket in Afghanistan before 2021, but that means that in the grand scheme of things, even if the entire international team has basically disappeared. means that it is not a big loss.
I never thought I would be given the wisdom of such a sensible adult! But treating this debate on its own terms would itself expose us to greater burdens than we could remotely handle. The very existence of the men’s team, almost the only national team to receive official blessings, is proof enough of its propaganda value.
Senior Taliban officials post photos with the team at official events, call senior players to congratulate them after wins, and show matches on large screens in public parks to a grateful male-only audience. was allowed. This is politics. How could you not do that? Cricket is uniquely popular among young Pashtuns, who form the backbone of the Taliban’s appeal. This is the only reason the happy police allowed this operation to continue. The team is now essentially a client organization, a PR offensive and a form of cricket diplomacy.
And, of course, the easy targets here are the empty shirts of the ECB, Cricket Australia and the ICC, who are caught between two countervailing forms of meanness. There is no cost to cancel a bilateral trip that is in the red. Boycotting games in major tournaments has serious implications for broadcasters, sponsors and future commercial value.
But, of course, the ICC is now essentially an event management company, a governing body that has largely given up governance. The ECB and Cricket Australia are peripheral figures here, only highlighted by the former’s CEO Richard Gould’s response to calls for an outright boycott. As with almost everything in cricket these days, the center of gravity of this issue is India. So the point here is less about what “should” happen and more about what possibilities the new ICC chairman, Jay Shah, a Narendra Modi acolyte, will realistically allow. That’s it.
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Officially, the Modi government has not recognized Afghanistan’s new government. In fact, in recent years, there has been real progress between the two countries, despite the cultural and religious divide between them. Diplomatic relations were restored in June 2022. Meanwhile, the Afghan embassy in Delhi and two consulates in Mumbai and Hyderabad are said to have secretly come under the control of pro-Taliban officials.
Driven by ever-present fears of Chinese influence and encouraged by a slight cooling of relations with Pakistan, the Modi government saw an opportunity to build bridges. Not surprisingly, cricket has played an important role in diplomatic relations. Afghanistan play their home matches in Greater Noida on the outskirts of Delhi, India invited Afghanistan for a white-ball series in January and they made a statement when Afghanistan reached the semi-finals of the T20 World Cup last summer. He made the announcement and thanked India for its “continued support in improving the capacity of the Afghanistan cricket team.”
So if India is overly upset about the disappearance of women’s rights under the Taliban, let’s just say it’s not immediately obvious. Afghan players will continue to be part of the Indian Premier League staff. The Afghanistan men’s team will continue to welcome the opportunity to tour India, use Indian facilities and tap into Indian expertise. Afghanistan’s economy has collapsed since 2021, and new trade partnerships are desperately needed. Anyone want to connect the dots here?
None of that challenges the power of sports boycotts. However, focusing on unilateral action at the expense of collective action is essentially the same as tacit acceptance of the status quo. To oppose the Taliban’s Iron Age misogyny would also be to oppose the capitalist power structures that sustain them, from the commercial sleaze of sports administrators to the cynical cooperation of the Modi government. . excessively? Is it too difficult? Too radical? And just like the factotums who run the game, you too have chosen to draw your line in a completely practical place.
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