Rashid Khan says he wants Afghanistan to have women's national cricket team

Rashid Khan, the Afghan cricket star, said he is eager for Afghanistan to field a women's national cricket team in the future.

Speaking Sunday before the T20 World Cup opener, Khan responded "Yes, definitely" to a question about sending a women's team to competitions. He added that having a women's team is among the conditions set by the International Cricket Council (ICC) for granting Afghanistan full membership. "The ICC and Afghanistan Cricket Board know best, but we would love to see anyone representing Afghanistan on the field," Khan said.

Khan noted that women's participation in cricket depends on decisions by the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the ICC. He emphasized that as a player, he has limited influence and focuses on what he can control. "We are in a situation where you really can't play much of a role. Still, yes, support has always been there. But ultimately, the more powerful people decide," he said.

Khan's remarks drew a sharp reaction from Firoza Afghan, a former player on Afghanistan's women's national cricket team. In an Instagram note, she accused the ICC of violating its own rules in 2017 by granting Afghanistan full membership without a women's team. She described the decision as a "direct and devastating blow" to women's cricket in Afghanistan and said the Afghanistan Cricket Board exploited it to promote the narrative that only the men's team deserved such achievements.

Firoza Afghan wrote to Khan that such a "reckless and harmful" decision undermines claims that the ICC and Cricket Board "know best." She added, "If that were true, women's cricket in Afghanistan wouldn't have been marginalized and silenced systematically. Afghanistan already had a women's cricket team."

The Taliban, after returning to power, banned women and girls from sports alongside other restrictions and disbanded all national women's teams. Previously, Khan has supported women's and girls' right to education in Afghanistan, though his relatively warm relations with some Taliban figures and officials have sparked controversy on social media.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board had 25 women players in 2020, but after the fall of Kabul, most now live in exile in Australia, Canada, and Britain. Many former team members reside in Canberra and Melbourne, playing for local clubs.