ICC takes firm stance after three Afghan cricketers killed in Pakistan airstrike: ‘Act of violence has robbed families’

ICC mourns the tragic deaths of three Afghan cricketers in an airstrike, highlighting the violence impacting the sport.

The International Cricket Council has issued a strongly worded note mourning the deaths of three aspiring Afghan cricketers - Kabeer Agha, Sibghatullajh, and Haroon, killed in an airstrike in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

ICC headquarters in Dubai

While formal investigators on the strike’s circumstances continue, the immediate impact is painfully clear - a community grieving and a sport once again reminded that its most hopeful stories are not insulated from violence. The ICC’s tone signals the seriousness with which global cricket views this moment.

ICC stands with ACB

The statement released by ICC read -

“The International Cricket Council (ICC) is deeply saddened and appalled by the tragic deaths of three young and promising Afghan cricketers, Kabeer Agha, Sibghatullah, and Haroon, who lost their lives in a recent airstrike in Afghanistan’s Paktika province.

The three young men had returned home after participating in a friendly cricket match when they were killed in an attack that also claimed the lives of several civilians. The ICC strongly condemns this act of violence that has robbed families, communities, and the cricketing world of three bright talents whose only ambition was to play the sport they loved.

The ICC stands in solidarity with the Afghanistan Cricket Board and echoes their grief.”

Eyewitnesses and officials described prayers held in the open, thousands gathered, sermons carried on loudspeakers, and families clutching photographs that will never be updated. Friends say the three had returned from a simple local game, the kind that keeps hope alive in the faraway districts.

The Afghanistan Cricket Board called the deaths a grievous loss to their sporting family and, as an immediate act of mourning, withdrew from next month’s T20I series in Pakistan. The decision is not a gesture for headlines; it is a line drawn in pain, taken while the elders prepare graves and teammates sit by hospital beds.

The statement from ICC did not name an actor, but the attribution in independent reporting is clear. What remains murky is everything that follows: answers for families, accountability that reaches beyond press notes, and a path that lets children walk home safely after a game.