Afghanistan's women’s cricket team has been banned from competing as they are told no sport is allowed that shows skin under new Taliban government rule.
According to an official in the hardline Islamist group, women won’t be allowed to play any sport which will ‘expose them or their bodies to the media’.
The deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission said women’s sport was considered neither appropriate - or necessary.
Ahmadullah Wasiq defended the decision to Australian broadcaster SBS.
“I don’t think women will be allowed to play cricket because it is not necessary that women should play cricket,” Wasiq said. “In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered.
"Islam does not allow women to be seen like this.
“It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed.”
Officials at the Afghanistan cricket board say they have not been informed officially of the fate of women’s cricket.
It comes as the EU slammed the new interim government for its lack of inclusion.
Their cabinet included only Taliban members, with no women.
A spokesperson of the group said women should restrict themselves to giving birth.
Sayed Zekrullah Hashimi, in an interview to Tolo News, said the all-male government was to be expected.
"A woman can't be a minister, it is like you put something on her neck that she can't carry," he said.
He went on to say that it is not necessary for a woman to be involved politically, adding that women "should give birth".
He added: "Women protesters can't represent all women in Afghanistan."
An EU spokesperson said: “Upon initial analysis of the names announced, it does not look like the inclusive and representative formation in terms of the rich ethnic and religious diversity of Afghanistan we hoped to see and that the Taliban were promising over the past weeks."
Working women in Afghanistan were last month told they must stay at home until proper systems are in place to ensure their safety.
"It's a very temporary procedure," spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.
The Taliban, which enforced a strict version of Islamic law when they ran Afghanistan before 2001, retook full control of the country in August.
In the latest crackdown on dissent in the country, the Taliban reportedly whipped women protesting against the country's all-male interim government on Wednesday.
