Cricket Scotland has placed clear limits on its future contact with Afghanistan’s men’s team, linking the decision to the Taliban government’s treatment of women and girls. The policy stops short of a complete sporting boycott: Scotland will still honour Afghanistan fixtures imposed by International Cricket Council competition regulations.
How the policy developed
The decision follows growing concern across international cricket about the exclusion of Afghan women and girls from sport. With no material improvement in women’s cricket or wider human rights conditions, Cricket Scotland has decided that independently arranged matches are no longer appropriate.
The board’s position applies immediately to future scheduling. It will not proactively organize a bilateral series against Afghanistan, and it will not join a tri-series that includes Afghanistan’s men’s side. The same restriction covers standalone fixtures arranged outside the ICC framework.
This approach reflects a deliberate distinction between matches Scotland chooses to arrange and fixtures created by an international tournament structure. Bilateral cricket is negotiated directly by national boards, while ICC competitions operate under regulations that participating teams are expected to follow.
What Scotland will and will not arrange
Scotland’s decision reaches beyond formal series. The board also says it will not host or take part in Afghanistan men’s training camps, practice matches, or other preparation fixtures outside ICC events.
In practical terms, the current policy means:
- No proactively scheduled bilateral series against Afghanistan men.
- No tri-series arranged with Afghanistan’s men’s team.
- No standalone practice games outside an ICC competition.
- No pre-tour training camps or related preparation arrangements.
- Continued participation when an ICC tournament schedule requires Scotland to face Afghanistan.
The statement specifically concerns the men’s team. It does not set out a separate policy for Scotland’s women’s side, so the announcement should not be interpreted as a ruling on women’s fixtures.
Why women’s cricket is central to the decision
Cricket Scotland’s reasoning is rooted in more than scheduling or sporting preference. The board has pointed to the Taliban’s restrictions on women and girls, including the effective removal of Afghan women from organized cricket.
That situation creates a difficult contradiction for the international game. Afghanistan’s men’s team has become one of cricket’s most exciting sides, yet women in the country do not have comparable access to the sport. Scotland’s policy expresses the view that normal bilateral relations should not continue while those circumstances remain unresolved.
The board has therefore tied any future return to bilateral cricket to a material change involving women’s cricket in Afghanistan and broader human rights concerns. This gives the policy a condition for review rather than making it an indefinite rejection of Afghanistan as a cricketing nation.
ICC matches are treated differently
Scotland will still play Afghanistan if the teams are drawn together at an ICC tournament. That could include a World Cup, a qualifying competition, or another event governed by ICC regulations. The board has also indicated that required tournament-related fixtures, including mandated warm-up matches, can remain part of the programme.
Cricket Scotland has emphasized that appearing in those matches does not amount to approval of the Afghan regime or its policies. The distinction allows Scotland to meet its obligations as an ICC member while refusing to create additional cricketing ties on its own initiative.
That separation is significant because bilateral tours form a major part of international cricket’s calendar. They create commercial opportunities, build sporting relationships, and give boards considerable control over whom they host or visit. Declining those opportunities is therefore a visible political and ethical statement.
George Munsey and the Afghanistan Premier League
The policy also affects the question of whether Scottish players can appear in Afghanistan-linked competitions. George Munsey was the only Scottish player selected in the recent Afghanistan Premier League draft, but his participation is not automatically guaranteed.
Cricket Scotland has said it will consider issuing Munsey a No Objection Certificate if the tournament receives ICC sanction. Until that approval is confirmed, his place in the competition remains subject to the board’s review.
This position shows that Scotland is not imposing a blanket prohibition on every event connected with Afghanistan. Instead, it is assessing each opportunity through questions of authorization, tournament status, and the board’s wider principles.
If an NOC is granted, Cricket Scotland has made clear that Munsey’s participation must not be viewed as support for the Taliban government or its policies. The same separation between sporting involvement and political endorsement applies here as it does to ICC fixtures.
Scotland is also joining a broader movement among major cricket boards. England has avoided bilateral men’s series against Afghanistan while continuing to face the team in ICC competitions, and Cricket Australia has suspended bilateral cricket relations with Afghanistan.
The result is a divided international calendar. Afghanistan remains a competitive and important men’s team, but several boards are limiting the opportunities they create outside mandatory tournaments. For now, Scotland’s message is precise: it will fulfil international obligations, but it will not voluntarily expand bilateral engagement while concerns about women’s rights and human rights remain unchanged.
