Afghan Women Cricketers Win ICC Funding After 5-Year Fight

Five years ago, Benafsha Hashimi was starving and hiding from the Taliban, hunted simply for playing cricket. This week, she and her teammates celebrated a landmark victory that secures their future in international sport.

The International Cricket Council announced continued funding and a pathway for the Afghan women's refugee cricket team to compete in qualification events by 2030. The decision ends a years-long campaign by athletes scattered across Australia, Canada, and the UK who refused to give up on their dreams.

"We can represent our country, we can play together and we can show the world that Afghan women are talented, they are strong, they can follow their passion," said Canberra-based player Shafiqa Khan.

The journey to this moment started in 2021 when the Taliban returned to power and began hunting down women athletes. The team fled Afghanistan, leaving behind everything but their love for cricket.

In December 2022, they wrote their first letter to the ICC asking for help. When nobody responded, they kept writing. "We want to show the world that even through war, insecurity, inequality and injustice the hopes of our team and representing our country remain alive," they wrote.

Their persistence paid off when an exhibition match in Melbourne last year drew international attention. The world started listening to these remarkable athletes who had survived threats, displacement, and years of uncertainty.

Now Cricket Australia, the England and Wales Cricket Board, and India's cricket board have joined a special taskforce to support the team's development. The program will provide structured coaching, competitive opportunities, and high-performance pathways through at least 2032.

"These women are nothing short of phenomenal," said Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg. "I see them as leaders, as incredible human beings who've been through some very difficult moments in their life."

Why This Inspires

This story reaches far beyond cricket. These athletes fled a regime that banned them from playing the sport they love and threatened their lives for doing so. Instead of giving up, they organized across three continents, wrote letter after letter to officials who ignored them, and kept showing up until the world's cricket community had to take notice.

Their victory sends a powerful message to women and girls still in Afghanistan: you are not forgotten. And it proves that persistence, even when the odds seem impossible, can move mountains.

The team's recent tour included matches at London's historic Lord's Cricket Ground and an audience with King Charles. "Who would believe the girl who was starving for days, whose family had nothing, no money, no power, today she's meeting the King?" Hashimi said.

The Taliban-controlled Afghanistan Cricket Board still refuses to recognize the team, but that hasn't stopped the international community from embracing these trailblazers.

By 2030, these women who once hid in fear will compete on cricket's biggest stages, representing hope for millions.