Why are we not boycotting Afghanistan cricket?

[Userxyd]

FFS what does it take to get these knobheads to do anything?
Evidently we have scant opportunities to influence the Taliban, and here the English Cricket Board are choosing to keep playing rather than show any support for women including banned female cricketers in Afghanistan

news.sky.com/story/england-cricket-rejects-call-for-afghanistan-boycott-over-taliban-assault-on-womens-rights-13284828

I love cricket and often think this when I see fixtures scheduled involving Afghanistan. Just not watching doesn’t feel like enough of a protest.

Good bloody question. I’d wholly support a boycott.

Hardly reported in the news and Starmer limply said at PMQs he supports the ECB raising it with the international board - so he supports them passing the buck and carrying on in the meantime? Great.
Meanwhile everyone's conveniently at the same time decided to notice that rape gangs are abhorrent and need focus, whilst ignoring the explosion in the culture that produced them.

Rory Stewart, The Afghanistan Explainer, lauding The Taliban for lowering the number of deaths in Afghanistan from thousands with NATO to 'only a few hundred' now and why it's silly in his opinion to boycott cricket just because of their 'harsh' views on women

From 18m onwards

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=EEmq5zi_PVc&si=1Q5RIx9doUwVUiur

Nice attempt to conflate it with far right campaigning as well. man alive

it is utterly shit. The Afghanistan Cricket team aren't even adhering to the ICC rules (which means they have to develop youth and women's cricket).

The ECB are utter cowards for not saying "no"
and now I'm afraid i hold every member of the England team who makes themselves available for selection in utter contempt. Writing and writing and writing letters isn't helping, but what more can we do?

I also saw yesterday that the ICC pay Afghanistan Cricket millions of dollars each year - again totally against their own regulations (and who knows what they use it for anyway)

It just sends the signal - well received by us - that women just don't matter to anyone. Ever.

What a total bell end! Is he really so thick - talking about how much safer it is, "you" can travel from one end of the country to the other, much safer for religious minorities etc etc. Errr - how can he just write off HALF the population?! when ALL females are imprisoned in their own homes, banned from school, university, prohibited from working, no access to healthcare unless it's a female healthcare provider, except oh yes they're not allowed to work, banned from meeting people, banned from speaking and even being seen at the window?!! Otherwise they go to prison or are killed.
But yes it would be stupid to boycott cricket or sanction them, cos they're not up for shopping and not bothered about sport anyway - so why are we going then you absolute tool?
Terrifying how someone apparently quite knowledgeable doesn't see any connections between this culture and the Southport killings, or the mass sexual assaults all over Europe by immigrants.
Best sweep it under the rug eh Rory? Cretin.

And I agree re holding cricketers who play there in contempt. Shame on them

That's because women aren't real people of course.

Tbf it's not just women the ECB don't think are real people. Didn't they used to field teams to South Africa under apartheid?

I was referring to Rory Stewarts views, but I think so, yes

Completely agree. It’s disgusting. How can anyone think this is acceptable?

I'm pretty sure that came under the boycott

Just looked it up. According to Wikipedia in 1990 a representative team of English cricket players played the last in the series of the so called "rebel" tours in South Africa at a time when the ICC had placed a moratorium on international teams playing in the country. I'm pretty sure there was a lot of debate about it in the news at the time. Their defence was that politics and sport and I suppose human rights should be kept separate. So it seems that the ECB is just continuing a long tradition of not giving a fuck.

This came up before, many years ago, when the then government (New Labour IIRC) deplored the ECB's continuation of fixtures.

ECB's response was (I paraphrase) "We're cricketers not diplomats, If you want a national sports boycott, say so and we'll comply. But it's not up to us to make policy on sanctions"

I think that approach would be available to the Government now if they were so minded.

Stewart still fancies himself as the Great tribal understander

Disappointed by Stewart. It does also highlight what an incredibly boring game it is if the Taliban allows it.

Hahaha. But still only for men! If women played it obviously Afghan men wouldn't be able to contain their sexual urges 🙄
Honestly doesn't this whole Taliban dominance just present the entire country of men as utter fuckwit wimps with no self control? Meanwhile Ukraine seems to be populated by brave warriors ready to die to protect their country.

Malala has been asking Muslim world leaders to challenge the Taliban

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c70qz9ly1eko

Here's hoping that works. There seems to be no traction so far

Because men’s human rights to play and watch sport are more important than women’s human rights to education, or freedom of speech, belief, or association or anything else. Of course.