"Since taking over Afganistan in 2021, the Taliban has banned Women from participating in sports, including representing Afganistan at International Sporting events. In response to this, there has been backlash from International Sporting bodies. For example, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the governing body for cricket, has restricted funding to the Afganistan Cricket Board and has threatened to ban the Afganistan Men's Cricket team from participating in International Cricket events, like the Cricket World Cup, if women's cricket is not permitted in Afganistan.
For context, Cricket is the most popular sport in Afganistan and the Afganistan Men's team has made significant progress in the International cricket arena, having qualified to play in the past 3 editions of the Cricket World Cup"