I would like to emphasise at the outset that this thread is intended in a supportive way for Pakistan cricket. There will be none of my usual teasing/trolling, simply an attempt to explain to a Pakistani audience how the world has changed this last month, and how it affects them.
Rightly or wrongly, Pakistan is not in the Big Three. I showed in another thread that if bilateral ties and tours with India existed, the PCB would overtake Cricket Australia as the third richest Board. But that is not happening anytime soon.
In recent years there has been a reduction in domestic terrorism in Pakistan. You may or may not link that to non-Taliban rule in Afghanistan, but the bottom line is that touring Pakistan became safer, and aside from the Asian countries Zimbabwe, South Africa and - until Friday - New Zealand resumed touring the country.
Now we are at the point at which I need to make a few points you will not like.
1. Nobody gives the slightest consideration or respect to Pakistani claims of "Foolproof security".
The attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore ended that for a generation.
2. Nobody gives the slightest consideration to Pakistan's intelligence gathering agencies. No western country will trust them, and no western country would ever share sensitive intelligence with them.
Three things ensured that.
i) The 2009 Lahore attack on the Sri Lanka team, plus the 2002 Karachi attack in Inzamam's 329 Test.
ii) The fact that Osama Bin Laden was sheltered in Abbottabad of all places, and that the Americans were only able to successfully execute their attack by excluding the ISI, which is universally assumed to have sheltered and protected him.
iii) The fact that the Taliban - after winning zero seats out of 250 in the 2018 Afghan election - has returned to power with the clear patronage of the Pakistan political and intelligence elite.
The last of those points is the clearest one now. Two decades without Taliban rule had seen the Pakistan armed forces, intelligence services and political elite regain a small amount of credibility in western countries. But the return of the unwanted Taliban to power in Afghanistan has made their friends and allies into Pariahs once more.
3. Any western sports team will leave instantly if they are warned by their own security services of an imminent danger.
It's unrealistic to the point of fantasy to think that New Zealand, for example, would have responded to a warning of a threat by defying its own government and intelligence services. That's just inconceivable.
The same thing would have happened even before the Taliban returned to power. But now that they are back - and every Western government rightly or wrongly sees the ISI's fingerprints all over it - the chances that New Zealand Cricket would defy their own government and stay in response to Pakistani assurances, or share sensitive intelligence with Pakistan are simply ZERO.
4. Blaming your guests for obeying their own government's directions to go home after a reported immediate threat is politically dumb and counter-productive.
The fact that New Zealand was there, on matchday, shows that the Board, the players and the management staff were in Pakistan in good faith and intended to play. Even though they all know people like Mark Richardson and Craig McMillan and Stephen Fleming who have heard a bomb go off in Pakistan.
Anyone who seriously thinks that the 2021 team could have just ignored their government's orders is a fool. I expected more of Rameez Raja, and I am shocked by the stupidity - and self-damaging nature - of his comments.
5. The Pakistan Prime Minister's comments resonate around the cricket world.
Imran Khan is not a politician like any other. Every man - but also every woman - over the age of 40 in the cricket world knows exactly who he is. Most of us in the west giggle at his ludicrous misogynistic comments about women attracting rape by their clothing because we remember his romantic activities with English, American and Australian women. But every time he makes a comment like that he inadvertently positions western perceptions of Pakistan as more and more intertwined with our perceptions of Afghanistan. His comments and actions towards the Taliban are even more destructive to Pakistan cricket.
In summary, an unintended consequence for Pakistan of the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan is that Pakistan has returned to Pariah status in the cricket world.
So much good political work had taken place with the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket South Africa in particular in recent years. And it has all been fatally undermined by the resumption of Taliban rule, and by the perception that they were enabled in it by Pakistan's intelligence services.
My advice to the PCB is simple.
1. Continue the diplomatic work.
2. Continue to schedule international tours, but understand that there will be a very low threshold for their unilateral cancellation by the opposition.
3. Accept that when tours get cancelled for security reasons, the way to behave is to say "Of course we support the safety of the New Zealand team, and we would never think of asking them to remain here when they feel unsafe. they leave with our blessing, but we hope it was a false alarm, and we hope to host our dear Kiwi friends again soon".
4. Never, ever say "but we offered them presidential level security". Everyone knows what happened to the Sri Lankan cricketers and Benazir Bhutto, and if you tout your own security your guests will just laugh at you.
5. Never, ever say "but our intelligence services say there is no threat". That will simply attract private comments about Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban and provoke your guests further, and burn more bridges.
6. Above all, understand that having a Taliban government next door profoundly damages the status, stature, influence and power of Pakistan cricket. It's hard to imagine any one thing which could damage Pakistan cricket more.
One final comment. Any responses citing the Australian terrorist in Christchurch, or the Covid outbreak at India's Oval Test will only show that the writer has not addressed what I have put in this thread. It's actually not relevant, and it won't help Pakistan's cause.
Rightly or wrongly, Pakistan is not in the Big Three. I showed in another thread that if bilateral ties and tours with India existed, the PCB would overtake Cricket Australia as the third richest Board. But that is not happening anytime soon.
In recent years there has been a reduction in domestic terrorism in Pakistan. You may or may not link that to non-Taliban rule in Afghanistan, but the bottom line is that touring Pakistan became safer, and aside from the Asian countries Zimbabwe, South Africa and - until Friday - New Zealand resumed touring the country.
Now we are at the point at which I need to make a few points you will not like.
1. Nobody gives the slightest consideration or respect to Pakistani claims of "Foolproof security".
The attack on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore ended that for a generation.
2. Nobody gives the slightest consideration to Pakistan's intelligence gathering agencies. No western country will trust them, and no western country would ever share sensitive intelligence with them.
Three things ensured that.
i) The 2009 Lahore attack on the Sri Lanka team, plus the 2002 Karachi attack in Inzamam's 329 Test.
ii) The fact that Osama Bin Laden was sheltered in Abbottabad of all places, and that the Americans were only able to successfully execute their attack by excluding the ISI, which is universally assumed to have sheltered and protected him.
iii) The fact that the Taliban - after winning zero seats out of 250 in the 2018 Afghan election - has returned to power with the clear patronage of the Pakistan political and intelligence elite.
The last of those points is the clearest one now. Two decades without Taliban rule had seen the Pakistan armed forces, intelligence services and political elite regain a small amount of credibility in western countries. But the return of the unwanted Taliban to power in Afghanistan has made their friends and allies into Pariahs once more.
3. Any western sports team will leave instantly if they are warned by their own security services of an imminent danger.
It's unrealistic to the point of fantasy to think that New Zealand, for example, would have responded to a warning of a threat by defying its own government and intelligence services. That's just inconceivable.
The same thing would have happened even before the Taliban returned to power. But now that they are back - and every Western government rightly or wrongly sees the ISI's fingerprints all over it - the chances that New Zealand Cricket would defy their own government and stay in response to Pakistani assurances, or share sensitive intelligence with Pakistan are simply ZERO.
4. Blaming your guests for obeying their own government's directions to go home after a reported immediate threat is politically dumb and counter-productive.
The fact that New Zealand was there, on matchday, shows that the Board, the players and the management staff were in Pakistan in good faith and intended to play. Even though they all know people like Mark Richardson and Craig McMillan and Stephen Fleming who have heard a bomb go off in Pakistan.
Anyone who seriously thinks that the 2021 team could have just ignored their government's orders is a fool. I expected more of Rameez Raja, and I am shocked by the stupidity - and self-damaging nature - of his comments.
5. The Pakistan Prime Minister's comments resonate around the cricket world.
Imran Khan is not a politician like any other. Every man - but also every woman - over the age of 40 in the cricket world knows exactly who he is. Most of us in the west giggle at his ludicrous misogynistic comments about women attracting rape by their clothing because we remember his romantic activities with English, American and Australian women. But every time he makes a comment like that he inadvertently positions western perceptions of Pakistan as more and more intertwined with our perceptions of Afghanistan. His comments and actions towards the Taliban are even more destructive to Pakistan cricket.
In summary, an unintended consequence for Pakistan of the return of the Taliban to power in Afghanistan is that Pakistan has returned to Pariah status in the cricket world.
So much good political work had taken place with the England and Wales Cricket Board and Cricket South Africa in particular in recent years. And it has all been fatally undermined by the resumption of Taliban rule, and by the perception that they were enabled in it by Pakistan's intelligence services.
My advice to the PCB is simple.
1. Continue the diplomatic work.
2. Continue to schedule international tours, but understand that there will be a very low threshold for their unilateral cancellation by the opposition.
3. Accept that when tours get cancelled for security reasons, the way to behave is to say "Of course we support the safety of the New Zealand team, and we would never think of asking them to remain here when they feel unsafe. they leave with our blessing, but we hope it was a false alarm, and we hope to host our dear Kiwi friends again soon".
4. Never, ever say "but we offered them presidential level security". Everyone knows what happened to the Sri Lankan cricketers and Benazir Bhutto, and if you tout your own security your guests will just laugh at you.
5. Never, ever say "but our intelligence services say there is no threat". That will simply attract private comments about Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban and provoke your guests further, and burn more bridges.
6. Above all, understand that having a Taliban government next door profoundly damages the status, stature, influence and power of Pakistan cricket. It's hard to imagine any one thing which could damage Pakistan cricket more.
One final comment. Any responses citing the Australian terrorist in Christchurch, or the Covid outbreak at India's Oval Test will only show that the writer has not addressed what I have put in this thread. It's actually not relevant, and it won't help Pakistan's cause.
We should expect more inclusions in such 'lists' which are designed to control nations. 
