Taliban Give the Green Light to Historic First Cricket Test between Australia and Afghanistan
By Peter Vincent
The Taliban have surprisingly given the Afghanistan cricket team the go ahead to play a historic first test in Australia - with the new regime even inviting Aussie players to Kabul.
The deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission Ahmadullah Wasiq indicated to the Australian administration that any matches already scheduled could go ahead as planned.
A Cricket Australia statement to Daily Mail Australia confirmed the Aussies planned to go ahead with the test match in Hobart - despite the turmoil in Afghanistan after the collapse of the Western-backed government.
'Cricket Australia's planning for the historic first Test match between Australia and Afghanistan in Hobart is well underway.'
Australia were due to play a fast improving Afghanistan on November 27 to launch the summer of cricket Down Under - but events around the takeover by the Taliban seem to suggest the fixture was unlikely to go ahead.
Mr Wasid told SBS Pashto service that matches already in the calendar 'will continue without interruption, and [the Afghan team] can play with other international teams'.
'There is goodwill between CA and the Afghanistan Cricket Board to make the match happen, which immediately follows the ICC T20 World Cup in the UAE in which the Afghanistan team is due to play,' the Cricket Australia statement confirmed.
'CA will continue to work with the Australian and Tasmanian Governments ahead of the Afghanistan team's arrival planned for later this year.'
In a familiar refrain repeated elsewhere, Mr Wasid said the Taliban wanted 'good relations' with all nations - and added the Baggy Greens were welcome to tour.
'When good relations are established, Afghan players can go [to Australia] and they can come here,' Mr Wasid said.
Afghanistan pin up boy Rashid Khan, well known in Australia for his electric performances in the T20 Big Bash League in recent years, spoke for many terrified locals when he pleaded for global help in a tweet, which has since gone viral.
'Dear world leaders,' Khan, regarded by many as the best T20 bowler on the planet, wrote to his legions of social media followers.
'My country is in chaos, thousands of innocent people, including children and women, get martyred every day, houses and properties being destructed.
'Don't leave us in chaos. Stop killing Afghans and destroying Afghanistan. We want peace.'
Cricket Australia previously issued a sympathetic statement about the chaos in Afghanistan.
'Our thoughts are with the people of Afghanistan, our friends at the Afghanistan Cricket Board and the Afghanistan team during these challenging times,' a CA spokesperson said.
When the Taliban last took over Afghanistan, cricket was banned as it stopped men from religious prayer, according to the Courier Mail.
In remarkable scenes, some rogue troops defiantly started playing their favorite sport — sometimes in the snow outside the capital Kabul.
The problem for Afghanistan's home based cricketers following the takeover will be logistically, namely who will pay their salaries and organize local competitions as they look to fine-tune their preparations for the tour to Australia.
Sadly, it now all appears to be a pipe dream as a lack of government rule sees chaos destined to reign.
In recent days, the Taliban dramatically recaptured the Afghan capital of Kabul after 20 years in exile.
On Tuesday morning, Defense Minister Peter Dutton confirmed Australia won't send planes into Afghanistan's Kabul airport while it is engulfed by chaos as people attempt to flee the Taliban.
Dramatic videos have emerged of people swarming Kabul's airport to try and get on military evacuation flights.
Footage has shown people clinging to planes taking off, with some seen falling to their deaths.
