As Feroza Afghan watched the Afghanistan men’s team secure an unprecedented four victories in the 2023 World Cup, her jubilation was tinged with sadness at what she has lost.

“I am so happy for them because they have made history,” she says. “They have had a couple of amazing wins and they have done amazing. I just wish, when I see them and I watch them play, I wish it’s also happening for the women’s team as well. 

“Every time I watch their matches I think of our women’s team. That one day we also can play for Afghanistan in a World Cup.”

Feroza was one of the 25 female players awarded central contracts by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) in November 2020. Less than a year later, when the Taliban swept back into power, that contract made her and her family a target for the new regime. When her home city of Herat was retaken, Feroza fled first to Kabul and then crossed into Pakistan with her mother, aunt and four siblings after the Taliban followed them to the hotel they were staying in.

“We went to Pakistan and waited nine months there because my family doesn’t have passports,” Feroza says. “It was not too good [in Pakistan], it’s a bad situation for all Afghans. Some people left the country to go to Pakistan and other neighbours because they want their daughters and their children to have an education. Now it’s too bad a situation that the Pakistan government doesn’t allow the Afghan families to stay in Pakistan.”

Up to 800,000 refugees from Afghanistan are estimated to have sought refuge in Pakistan since August 2021. But in the last month, the Pakistan government has started a process of deporting undocumented refugees from Afghanistan back into Taliban-controlled territory. It’s been reported that up to 170,000 people have had to leave the country. The situation they are returning to is desperate.

According to the United Nations, more than half of Afghanistan’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance, and as much as 97 per cent of the population is living below the poverty line. In October, a series of powerful earthquakes killed over 2,000 people in Herat province, destroying huge amounts of infrastructure.

Against this backdrop, the Afghanistan men’s team reached new heights on the field in India. Their win over England in Delhi marked the start of an incredible run which saw them challenge for a place in the semi-finals. After that first win, Rashid Khan told Star Sports of the impact the team’s success could have on those facing such hardships back home.

“I think cricket is the only source which gives them lots of happiness and lots of good memories and people back home just wait,” he said. “This victory will give them a little bit of a smile on their faces and they could little bit forget those tough days.”

The chance for a ravaged population to experience a few moments of joyous escape cannot be disregarded; sport can still transport people out of the direst of circumstances. But in many ways it’s precisely because of this transformative power, suppressed and directed away from its female cricketers, that some feel the men’s team shouldn’t be playing in the tournament at all. 

Last year, Cricket Australia refused to play Afghanistan in an ODI series, citing “the deterioration of basic human rights for women in Afghanistan” as the driving factor behind the move. Cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics has called into question whether Afghanistan will be allowed to compete, with the IOC yet to clear their participation in the Games.

The ICC’s own criteria mandates that national boards must “have satisfactory women’s pathway structures in place” if they are to be awarded full membership. But despite Afghanistan having never fielded a women’s side, the ICC awarded the ACB full membership in 2017, and allowed them to remain a full member even as the situation for women deteriorated in the country. That means the ACB continues to have full voting rights and is set to receive $17 million in funding over the next four years. 

The ICC also bars government interference in the administration of cricket in any of its members, as evidenced by its recent decision to suspend Sri Lanka from full membership. But this criteria has not extended to Afghanistan, despite those in power in the country barring half of its population from playing cricket. Indeed the Taliban recently propped up the ACB to the tune of $1.2m, the board’s CEO, Naseeb Khan, recently told the BBC.

In an interview on the BBC’s Stumped podcast last week, ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice defended the board’s decision to uphold Afghanistan’s full membership status, despite the situation for women and girls in the country.

“In 2021 the regime in the country changed and has brought in rules, laws that prohibit women from playing sport in the country,” he said. “Whilst we have spoken with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and their position is that they have to operate within the laws of the country and the rules set by the government… The question for the ICC board is, do we support our member in their ability to promote cricket within the rules set by the government of the country? And the view is yes.

“How those members distribute those funds and the use of that money is very much up to those members. We don’t, with any of our members, have a check and balance over how that money is distributed. We don’t stipulate how that needs to be managed.”

For Feroza and her teammates, the question of that funding is hugely relevant. In December last year, they wrote a letter to the ICC which asked: “The funding provided by the ICC to the ACB for the women’s programme – where has this money gone? And can it be redirected to an organisation in Australia to help with our development… so we can still represent our country on an international stage?”

Almost a year on, the players are still waiting for a direct response. 

“I just want to tell them, please don’t ignore us,” says Feroza. “We have this right to play for our country, because in every programme and every competition, ICC tournament, everyone can play cricket everywhere. So we just want our rights to play for our country and they should give us our rights. 

“The ICC want the Afghanistan women’s team [to be] in Afghanistan but how is that possible when in Afghanistan women can’t work, can’t study, can’t even go to a school? How is it possible for women to play cricket in Afghanistan? I don’t think it could happen.

“My biggest dream is to have my uniform, my Afghanistan uniform and I still fight for that. At that time I will have everything. If I have my uniform, my Afghanistan women’s uniform, I will have everything.”

Despite external questions over whether the Afghanistan men’s team should be allowed to continue as an ICC full member, or whether they should be excluded from the international cricket community altogether, Feroza’s stance, and that of many other members of the Afghanistan women’s team, is clear.

“We don’t want the men’s team banned so they can’t play,” says Feroza. “But we have our right to play because we are also players. They want to play for Afghanistan and represent the Afghanistan people, we also want that. We just need their support and we need them to talk about us and our rights. We don’t want anyone not to play.”

The players continue to hope that support from the men’s team will help their case with the ICC and further their ambitions to play for Afghanistan in exile. However, faced with a complex and potentially dangerous situation, to this point those hopes have been unanswered. 

“We didn’t receive any support from them [the men’s team],” says Feroza. “And they didn’t want to talk about us, that makes us feel bad. I think the situation is that some of them play and live in Afghanistan and they are scared of the Taliban government.”

Since arriving in Australia last year, Feroza has built a new life for herself in Melbourne. When she’s not working, she plays cricket for several different teams as well as following the WBBL. As a fellow fast bowler, her hero is Mitchell Starc, although she admits her all-time favourite is Virat Kohli.

“Some of my [Afghanistan] teammates play for different clubs,” she says. “I also play for different clubs, but on Tuesdays, we play together. It’s not the Afghanistan team but I and some of my teammates play together in one team. My biggest dream is to represent Afghanistan and have my team. I’m still hopeful of that.

“We were born in war, and we grew up in war, and we have a bad situation in Afghanistan. But we just want to show the world and the other women that Afghanistan women are strong and how they are amazing.”