England captain Jos Buttler says a boycott of Afghanistan cricket is not "the way to go" ahead of the team’s ICC Champions Trophy 2025 match next month.

The contest, scheduled for February 26 in Lahore, has come under intense political scrutiny in recent weeks, following a letter from Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi to Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, in which she condemned the "insidious dystopia" and "sex apartheid" that 14 million women face in Afghanistan under the ruling Taliban regime.

In her letter, which was signed by more than 160 British politicians, Antoniazzi urged England's men's team to "speak out against the horrific treatment of women and girls in Afghanistan under the Taliban.". She also added that a boycott would "send a clear signal that such grotesque abuses will not be tolerated.".

The ECB declined the request and stated that the matter required a "coordinated, ICC-led response" rather than unilateral action from individual countries.

Speaking in Kolkata ahead of the first T20I against India, Buttler insisted that he and his side would be directed by "experts" but was certain that the match would go on as planned.

"Political situations like this, as a player you're trying to be as informed as you can be. The experts know a lot more about it, so I've been trying to stay in dialogue with Rob Key [ECB men's managing director] and the guys above to see how they see it. I don't think a boycott is the way to go about it,” Buttler was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

The England team faced a similar situation in the 2003 World Cup when Nasser Hussain's squad was asked to boycott their group-stage encounter against Zimbabwe, then led by Robert Mugabe—a decision that was eventually left to the players and resulted in a points forfeiture that ended their qualification for the tournament's latter phases.

Buttler, however, was confident that no such individual pressure would be brought to bear this time.

"The players haven't really worried too much about it. These things, you're trying to educate yourself and read up on these things. There's been some good stuff written about it that I've tapped into, and I've spoken to quite a few people to try and gather expert opinions.

I'm led by those experts on situations like this, but as a player, you don't want political situations to affect sports. We hope to go to the Champions Trophy and play that game and have a really good tournament,” Buttler said.

The ICC Champions Trophy 2025 is to be played in Pakistan and Dubai from February 19 to March 9.