In October 2025, several reports verified that Saudi investors had met with Taliban leaders in Kabul to discuss investments in Afghanistan’s oil, gas, and mineral resources. The Taliban Ministry of Mines and Petroleum stated that a memorandum of understanding was reached between Saudi Arabia’s Delta International Company and Afghan officials that would lead to future collaboration in energy exploration and development.
On the surface, this could appear to be a strategic regional play. But it’s actually an ugly warning. Saudi Arabia, the one saying it is modernizing through its Vision 2030, is now getting close to one of the world’s most repressive regimes, infamous for not letting women study, work, or participate in sports.
This partnership isn’t only about finance. It’s about endorsing extremism. And if the international football fraternity believes in FIFA’s human rights ideals, Saudi Arabia must be disqualified from hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
Saudi Arabia’s Contradictions Are Deepening
Saudi Arabia tends to sell its Vision 2030 agenda as a sign of modernity — letting women drive, opening up tourism, and diversifying its economy. But beneath the gaudy PR efforts, the Kingdom remains to carry out dissidents, repress activists, and censor free speech.
In 2025 alone, Saudi Arabia killed over 300 individuals, Human Rights Watch reports — many for non-violent offenses. Meanwhile, its investors are signing commercial agreements with the Taliban, a government that practices gender apartheid and public executions.
This contradiction is the very essence of sportswashing — utilizing international business and sport to whitewash and brutal reputation. Just as Saudi Arabia purchased English football team Newcastle United and introduced the LIV Golf tour, it now desires the FIFA World Cup to brand itself as a champion of progress. But investing in Afghanistan under Taliban command indicates that power and influence are still its priorities, not humanity.
The Taliban Connection: A Partnership of Oppression
Since retaking Kabul in 2021, the Taliban has erased nearly every gain made by Afghan women over two decades.
- Girls are banned from secondary schools and universities.
- Women are prohibited from working in NGOs, journalism, or government roles.
The UN calls Afghanistan under the Taliban “the most repressive country in the world for women.”
But Saudi financiers — headed by Delta International CEO Shahr Al-Taqi — are sitting down with Taliban ministers and inking cooperation contracts. Even former U.S. envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad attended one such meeting, marking the geopolitical heft of these negotiations.
By attempting to invest in a regime that officially denies women their fundamental rights, Saudi Arabia lays bare the emptiness of the reform rhetoric. It’s not possible to profess allegiance to modernization and cooperate with a government that bans women from playing or even watching games.
FIFA’s Human Rights Commitments Are at Stake
In 2017, FIFA implemented a Human Rights Policy that affirmatively commits to respecting internationally recognized rights and fostering gender equality. If these words are to be anything, Saudi Arabia’s dalliance with the Taliban needs to be seen as an open contradiction of FIFA’s ideals.
How is it that a country that co-develops oil fields with a regime that whips women for venturing out of their homes unescorted by male relatives hosts an event intended to promote international harmony, diversity, and equality?
Saudi Arabia rates 8/100 on worldwide freedom, and Afghanistan, under the Taliban, rates 0/100 — so this alliance becomes one between two of the world’s least free nations.
Hosting the World Cup in Riyadh as it constructs economic bridges to Kabul’s theocracy is not only hypocritical — it’s a moral breakdown.
The Global Security and Ethics Concern
Saudi investment in the resource sector of Afghanistan also sparks concerns that extremist networks might profit. The Taliban’s monopoly over mining and oil revenues has long propped up militant organizations in the region. If Saudi investors provide capital or technology to this environment, they stand to empower violent actors indirectly.
This is not just a political matter — it’s a world security issue and a concern for the footballing world. The same country that has been accused of the Jamal Khashoggi assassination and systemic human rights violations cannot be trusted with the world’s biggest and most uniting sporting event.
Women’s Empowerment Hypocrisy
Saudi Arabia likes to brag about changing women’s rights — but its track record continues to be poor.
- Feminist activists such as Loujain al-Hathloul were arrested and tortured for advocating for driving.
- Guardianship legislations continue to limit women’s mobility and marriage autonomy.
- Saudi women athletes continue to be bound by institutional and cultural obstacles.
Today, by allying with the Taliban, a regime that totally removes women from the public sphere, Saudi Arabia once again demonstrates that its “empowerment” is performative.
How could a country that is allied with gender apartheid host an event where there are going to be women’s teams, reporters, and supporters? The hypocrisy is mind-boggling.
FIFA Must Take a Stand
If FIFA really stands by its values, it must reconsider and cancel Saudi Arabia’s hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup. The world cannot turn its back on the fact that the same government that is killing hundreds of its own people and making deals with radicals is being rewarded with the biggest tournament on Earth.
The World Cup is supposed to celebrate humanity’s common values — not wash the reputations of regimes that trample on them.
Unite the World for Accountability – Call on FIFA to Act Now
The era of silence is over. Players, supporters, human rights groups, and football associations need to join together to call on FIFA to stand by its values. The governing organization needs to loudly affirm whether it is for freedom and equality, or profit and politics.
Football is more than a sport; it’s an international language of unity, hope, and courage. Permitting a government that is allied with the Taliban to host the world’s biggest sporting event is a betrayal of the millions who hold that ideal dear.
We must voice our outrage, speak this message, and pressure governments to act. FIFA cannot lecture on human rights while rewarding nations that facilitate oppression.
Join the movement. Speak out. Use your voice. Say NO to extremism in football. Say NO to Saudi Arabia hosting the 2034 FIFA World Cup.