MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australia have decided to cancel a planned T20 series against Afghanistan, with Cricket Australia (CA) citing concerns over the worsening human rights situation for women and girls in the Taliban-ruled country, as announced on Tuesday.
Last year, Australia had pulled out of a one-day series set to take place in the United Arab Emirates due to stringent restrictions imposed by the Taliban on Afghan women, which included a ban on their attendance at universities.
The teams had been slated to compete in three T20 matches in the UAE this August, but CA revealed that after discussions with the Australian government, the decision was made to terminate the series.
“The government has indicated that the conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan continue to deteriorate,” read a statement from the cricket board.
“As a result, we have reaffirmed our previous stance and have opted to postpone the scheduled bilateral series with Afghanistan.”
The Afghanistan Cricket Board did not offer an immediate response to the news.
CA also mentioned that they would be working with their Afghan counterparts and the International Cricket Council to explore potential measures that could facilitate the resumption of bilateral matches in the future.
In the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the country’s women’s cricket team was disbanded, with several members fleeing the nation.
Furthermore, Australia had already called off a single test match against Afghanistan in Hobart during the same year.
(Reporting by Amlan Chakraborty in New Delhi; editing by Peter Rutherford)
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