Ollie Pope, the England cricketer, has withdrawn from the player draft for the Afghanistan T20 League, an event scheduled to take place on 24 October. After registering for the Afghanistan Premier League (APL) draft, Pope chose not to participate, citing the treatment of women and girls under Taliban governance as his reason.
The Afghanistan T20 League, set to open on 27 December in the United Arab Emirates, will stage its first edition in eight years. From its 2018 launch onward, the tournament encountered a succession of administrative and financial obstacles that delayed later editions and eventually led to their removal from the schedule altogether.
Conditions for the league deteriorated after the Taliban returned to governance in 2021, with global bodies reducing their involvement in response to the administration's rules barring women from athletic participation.
As a centrally contracted player with the England and Wales Cricket Board, Pope was required to obtain a No Objection Certificate before participating in any league competition outside the country. No link to ECB discussions has been established, with his withdrawal described as an independently made decision. He is among the first English players to opt out of the draft.
Under a standing arrangement, the ECB does not play bilateral fixtures against Afghanistan. Three players — Will Smeed, David Willey, and Pope — have each withdrawn their names from the draft pool. Of the English players still in contention ahead of the 24 October draft, Malan remains the sole name on the list.
Rob Key, who oversees England Men's Cricket as its Managing Director, raised questions about the ethical dimensions of participating in the Afghanistan T20 League. While acknowledging the legal difficulties around preventing players from taking part, he said decisions in this area had to be grounded in personal ethical convictions. Key also indicated he was withdrawing from the tournament, pointing to the Taliban's policies toward women and girls as the basis for his decision. He drew attention to the need for players to weigh their own ethical positions before deciding whether to participate, placing personal accountability at the centre of his remarks.
Following the Taliban's return to power in August 2021, Afghan women and girls have faced a series of restrictions on freedoms they previously held. Measures put in place by the authorities have cut off this group's access to secondary and university-level education, placed restrictions on employment with non-governmental organisations, and limited their use of public areas such as parks and sports venues. Under the rules in place, any journey undertaken by a woman requires the accompaniment or formal approval of a male relative.
Under those restrictions, a number of Afghan women athletes have left the country altogether or gone underground to avoid detection. A development programme backed by the ICC sets out to bring Afghan women cricketers displaced from their home country back into competitive play at the international level, with a pathway to full event participation targeted for 2030.
