Ex-footballer Khalida Popal says 'the stadiums we played in are being used for executions - a boycott would show our sisters their suffering is not forgotten'

One of Afghanista n’s first female Olympians has called on the England cricket team to boycott their Champions Trophy match against the Asian country’s men’s team next month. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

A group of British lawmakers urged England to boycott their Champions Trophy match against Afghanistan next month, saying the country's cricket board (ECB) needed to take a stand against the Taliban's crackdown on women.

Seven MPs and peers from Northern Ireland back boycott due to the Taliban's oppression of women.

Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, has rejected calls from a group of British politicians for England to boycott their upcoming Champions Trophy clash with Afghanistan in February, saying that the Taliban regime's clampdown on women's rights is a matter that requires a "co-ordinated,

England's men's players have the "power" to make their own stand and refuse to play Afghanistan in the Champions Trophy, says Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi.

The UK government says the International Cricket Council should "deliver on their own rules" relating to women's participation as the England men's team resist calls to boycott their upcoming match against Afghanistan.