It was on August 15 that the militant group of Taliban entered Kabul and acquired complete power of Afghanistan. According to the latest updates, the Taliban regime has now renamed the country the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. As chaos looms over the nation, a section of Afghanistanis strongly believes that they could lose their men's national cricket team and women's football team due to the Taliban rule.
Taliban rule could affect cricket in Afghanistan
A few days before the Taliban's entry into Kabul, spinner Rashid Khan who is the face of Afghanistan cricket posted a heartfelt note on social media. In the post, Rashid Khan urged world leaders to protect the people of his nation, and he made it clear that the country needs peace.
"Dear world leaders! My country is in chaos, thousand of innocent people, including children & women, get martyred every day, houses & properties are being destructed. Thousand families displaced. Don't leave us in chaos. Stop killing Afghans & destroying Afghanistan. We want peace," wrote Rashid Khan.
Former English cricketer Kevin Peterson also revealed that Rashid Khan is very much bothered about his family in Afghanistan. It should be noted that Khan is currently in England playing the Hundred men's competition.
"He can't get his family out of Afghanistan and there's a lot of things happening for him... For him to turn up and put on a performance like this under the pressure that he is currently under, for him to be able to forget that stuff and navigate his story and continue the momentum that he has - I think that's probably one of the most heart-warming stories of this Hundred so far," Kevin told Sky News.
However, the Afghanistan cricket board believes that the Taliban loves cricket and will not hamper cricketing activities or harm cricketers or their families. Afghanistan is currently in the 7th spot in the ICC T20I rankings, ahead of Sri Lanka, the West Indies, and Bangladesh.
Uncertainty surrounding women's football team
The Taliban is known for targeting women who attend schools. If such a mindset persists among Taliban leaders, it is still unclear how such an authority allows women to play football in the nation.
"Painful to see the dreams and hopes of Afghanistan women & girls are fading again. It's painful to witness that they are not allowed to dream again. They are stopped from dreaming," tweeted Khalida Popal, a former captain of the Afghanistan women's football team who had fled her country and sought asylum in Denmark five years ago.
