Sydney CNN —
Australia’s men’s cricket squad has withdrawn from a bid of upcoming matches against Afghanistan successful protestation implicit the ruling Taliban’s restrictions connected women and girls’ acquisition and employment, Cricket Australia (CA) said successful a connection Thursday.
The teams were scheduled to play 3 One Day International (ODI) games successful the United Arab Emirates successful March, but CA decided to cancel the bid aft “extensive consultation” with “several stakeholders including the Australian government,” the connection said.
“CA is committed to supporting increasing the crippled for women and men astir the world, including successful Afghanistan, and volition proceed to prosecute with the Afghanistan Cricket Board successful anticipation of improved conditions for women and girls successful the country,” it added.
In December, the Taliban announced the suspension of assemblage acquisition for each pistillate students. The determination followed a determination successful March to barroom girls from returning to secondary schools, pursuing months-long closures that had been successful spot since the hardline Islamist radical took implicit Afghanistan successful August 2021.
Later that month, the Taliban ordered each section and planetary non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to halt their pistillate employees from coming to work, informing that non-compliance would effect successful the revocation of their licenses.
Cricket Australia had antecedently backed retired of a projected Test lucifer against Afghanistan owed to beryllium hosted successful Tasmania successful November of 2021 implicit the Taliban’s prohibition connected women participating successful sports.
“Driving the maturation of women’s cricket globally is incredibly important to Cricket Australia. Our imaginativeness for cricket is that it is simply a athletics for all, and we enactment the crippled unequivocally for women astatine each level,” CA said astatine the time.
Australia’s sports curate Anika Wells connected Thursday said Canberra supports Cricket Australia’s move.
“The Australian authorities welcomes Cricket Australia’s determination to retreat from the upcoming men’s One Day International bid against Afghanistan, pursuing the Taliban’s accrued suppression of women and girls’ rights,” she tweeted.
Although the Taliban repeatedly claimed it would support the rights of girls and women, the radical has done the opposite, stripping distant the hard-won freedoms for which women person fought tirelessly implicit the past 2 decades.
The United Nations and astatine slightest fractional a twelve large overseas assistance groups person said they are temporarily suspending their operations successful Afghanistan pursuing the prohibition connected pistillate NGO employees.
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