Afghan women to be banned from playing sport, Taliban say

National cricket team included in prohibition, as interim government containing no women starts work

Afghan women, including the country's national women's cricket team, will be banned from playing sport under the new Taliban government, according to an official in the hardline Islamist group.

In an interview with the Australian broadcaster SBS, the deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, said women's sport was considered neither appropriate or necessary.