It is not at all interesting to repeatedly explain such obvious facts, especially when some people from Afghanistan persistently refuse to acknowledge them. Yet, it seems necessary once again to clarify: 

South African sports teams during apartheid were internationally sanctioned due to the formal system of racial discrimination. Most global sports federations, including the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, excluded South Africa from competitions due to its blatant human rights violations. The mere participation of South African teams under the apartheid regime’s flag was met with global backlash and widespread sanctions. Many athletes individually boycotted events that included South African teams.

Under current circumstances, sanctioning Afghanistan’s cricket team can be ethically and politically justified:

The Taliban are clearly exploiting the national cricket team’s participation in international tournaments as a tool for legitimizing their regime. The team’s victories are portrayed in Taliban-controlled media as signs of “stability” and “progress” under their rule, while in reality, Afghan society faces severe oppression, especially targeting women and minorities.

The Taliban have entirely barred women from sports, public life, and even education. Despite this widespread repression, the men’s cricket team continues to participate internationally, while Afghan female athletes are completely excluded from all forms of athletic activity. This blatant gender-based discrimination violates fundamental principles of equality and fairness in sports.

If the Afghan national cricket team truly represents the republic, why does the Taliban use its victories to promote their legitimacy?

Why have the team’s celebrations, alongside Taliban officials, been repeatedly broadcast on Taliban-controlled media? A team that genuinely stands for the republic should not be so closely associated with an oppressive regime.

If this team truly represented the republic, why are the very girls who were educated under the republic’s flag now confined to their homes, deprived of education, sports, and public life? Under the republic, a national women’s cricket team was in development, but the Taliban dissolved it after their takeover, forcing female athletes to flee the country. A team representing the people cannot ignore the systematic oppression of women.

In apartheid South Africa, sports sponsorships were directly linked to the racist regime, making the teams complicit in justifying systemic oppression. Similarly, Afghanistan’s current cricket team benefits from financial backing and logistical support facilitated by the Taliban regime. This collaboration is not merely symbolic, Taliban actively use the team's successes to further their propaganda narrative.

If the national cricket team still symbolizes the republic, why have the Taliban trampled the same republic’s flag and anthem, and why do they continue to kill and oppress former security forces of that very republic? One cannot claim to represent the republic’s values while standing alongside a regime that has dismantled those very principles. How can a team share the same platform with a regime that rejects the national flag and anthem it claims to represent? This contradiction is deeply troubling.

While the Afghan cricket team may have once been a legacy of the republic, it has now become a propaganda tool for the Taliban. It could have remained a genuine representative of the Afghan people only if it had distanced itself from the Taliban and condemned their gender apartheid. Just as the global sports community sanctioned apartheid-era South Africa to oppose systemic discrimination, the world must not allow a team used as a propaganda instrument for a brutal regime to participate unchecked in international arenas.