The Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) has announced its withdrawal from the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series, which includes Pakistan, following an attack in Afghanistan’s Paktika province that resulted in the death of three cricketers and five other individuals.
The tri-nation series scheduled from November 17 to 29 in Pakistan will now be played between Sri Lanka and Pakistan only, after Afghanistan pull out, Aaj News reported.
Once allies, Islamabad and Kabul have been engaged in cross-border fighting, which came to a halt with temporary truce lately.
Terrorist attacks in Pakistan have been a major irritant in its relationship with the Afghan Taliban, which returned to power in Kabul after the departure of US-led forces in 2021.
The latest conflict between the two countries was triggered after Islamabad repeatedly demanded that Kabul rein in terrorists who had stepped up attacks in Pakistan, saying they operated from havens in Afghanistan. The Taliban denies giving haven to militants to attack Pakistan.
The fighting between the two neighbouring nations this month is their worst in decades. It has drawn the attention of Saudi Arabia and Qatar, who have mediated and sought to stop the fighting. US President Donald Trump has said he can help resolve the conflict.
The conflict began after despite Pakistan’s repeated diplomatic efforts and requests to the Afghan government to rein in terrorists operating from their soil failed and the Taliban authorities did not take concrete measures against the militants.
A day ago, Defence Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif stated that there would be no more delegation visit, demarches and appeals to Afghanistan from Pakistan.
In a post on X, he said there had been no positive response from Kabul in five years, despite Pakistan’s strenuous and sincere efforts and sacrifices.
Presenting a detailed review of Pakistan’s efforts for bringing peace and preventing infiltration from Afghanistan since the Taliban came into power in 2021, he said multiple visits were paid to Kabul by the Pakistan’s foreign minister, defence minister, ISI officials, special advisors, national security advisors and secretary.
Asif added that several demarches were served on Kabul, besides holding hundreds of border flag meetings with Afghan officials to convey Islamabad’s concerns. He further highlighted that since 2021, Pakistan has sacrificed around 4,000 lives of civilians and the personnel of military and the law enforcement agencies in over 10,000 incidents of terrorism.
The minister said Afghanistan had become an Indian proxy. “This war of terror has been imposed on Pakistan by India, Afghanistan and TTP together,” he said.
The defence minister said all Afghans sitting on Pakistani soil would have to go back to their homeland. “Now they have their own government in Kabul and it has been five years,” he said.
He said Afghanistan would have to live with Pakistan as a good neighbour. He said Pakistan’s land and resources belonged to 250 million Pakistanis and it was time to end the forced hospitality of five decades. He added that self-reliant nations did not thrive on foreign land and resources.
In a statement, the ACB expressed its sorrow and grief over death of cricketers from Urgun District in Paktika Province, claiming they were killed in an attack allegedly “carried out by the Pakistani regime.“
The ACB claimed that three players — identified as Kabeer, Sibghatullah and Haroon — were killed, along with five other Afghanis. Seven other individuals were injured in the attack, it added.
The ACB said that the players had travelled to Sharana, the capital of Paktika province, to participate in a friendly cricket match.
The Afghan cricket authority described the incident as a “great loss for Afghanistan’s sports community, its athletes, and the cricketing family.”
As a gesture of respect to the victims and in response to the tragic incident, the ACB announced its decision to “withdraw from participating in the upcoming Tri-Nation T20I Series involving Pakistan, scheduled to be played in late November.”
