[16] After nearly a decade of playing international cricket, on 22 June 2017 full ICC membership (and therefore Test status) was granted to Afghanistan.

[25] Afghanistan fielded their cricket team in Pakistan's domestic setup for the first time in the 2001–02 season, participating in the second division of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy where they drew two and lost three of their five games.

[28] In the 2003–04 season, they made an appearance in the PCB's inter-district tournament in Peshawar, where they registered their lone victory against Swabi, drew twice and lost two matches.

More success began in 2006 when they were runners-up to Bahrain in the Middle East Cup and beat an MCC side featuring former England captain Mike Gatting by 171 runs in Mumbai.

[34] In 2010, Afghanistan competed at the Asian Games, a non-ICC T20 event hosted by China, where they defeated a second-string Pakistan side by 22 runs in the semi-finals in what was considered an upset.

[36][32] They followed this up with another tour in September to participate in Pakistan's domestic National T20 Cup in Karachi as the Afghan Cheetahs, but had another poor outing, losing all three of their matches.

During the match, which was drawn, Afghan batsman Noor Ali scored centuries in both his innings, making him only the fourth player to do so on their first-class debut.

[43] On 13 February 2010, Afghanistan defeated the United Arab Emirates by 4 wickets to make their way to the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 to be in the West Indies in April 2010.

[45] In their second match, the team were reduced to 14/6 at one stage, before a late rally from Mirwais Ashraf and Hamid Hassan helped Afghanistan post 88 all out, resulting in a loss by 59 runs.

[47] Also in 2010, they won the ACC Trophy Elite tournament in Kuwait, beating Nepal in the final[48] and finished third in Division One of the World Cricket League in the Netherlands.

In the WCL Championship table, as 2013 dawned Afghanistan was level with Scotland in third, trailing Ireland and the Netherlands for the two automatic qualification spots for the 2015 World Cup.

Then in July the Netherlands failed to take any points against Ireland, leaving Afghanistan in position to qualify if they could win their final four matches, against poorer performing Namibia and Kenya.

With one final win over Kenya on 4 October by 7 wickets, Afghanistan secured second in the Championship with 19 points, and qualified for World Cup.

The PCB-regulated National Cricket Academy (NCA) helped in improving technical, tactical, mental and physical skills, and hosted lectures on doping, anti-corruption and various codes of conduct.

The world governing body of cricket approved the grant at its IDI (ICC Development International) board meeting, which concluded in Dubai.

Previous countries to receive similar funding programmes included the Netherlands, Scotland, the West Indies, Zimbabwe and Ireland.

The Afghanistan cricket team toured Bangladesh in September and October 2016 to play three One Day Internationals (ODIs) matches.

Ahead of the ODI series there was a fifty-over warm-up game between the Bangladesh Cricket Board XI and Afghanistan in Fatullah.

In February 2017 the International Cricket Council (ICC) awarded first-class status to Afghanistan's four-day domestic competition.

On 3 October 2013, Afghanistan beat Kenya to finish second in the WCL Championship and qualify for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, becoming the 20th team to gain entry into the tournament overall.

Afghanistan secured their passage to Australia and New Zealand in 2015 by beating Kenya comprehensively for the second time in succession in Sharjah, sealing their maiden World Cup qualification.

In March 2014, Afghanistan beat Hong Kong in the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 but could not make it to the next stage of super 10 having lost the two matches to Bangladesh and Nepal.

He was chosen ahead of Mohammad Yousuf, Herschelle Gibbs and Corey Collymore[73] Rajput is in line for a two-year contract, but that decision would be finalised after the upcoming tour of Europe.

[75] Shafiq Stanikzai, Chief Executive of ACB, said the draft had been presented to BCCI president Anurag Thakur in May and further discussions occurred during the ICC Annual Conference in Edinburgh in June 2016.

[85][86] Concerns were raised over the safety of Afghan national cricketers and their families who were still in Afghanistan during the Taliban takeover on 15 August 2021.

Following Afghanistan's World Twenty20 qualifying campaign they played two One Day Internationals against Canada at the Sharjah Cricket Association Stadium in the UAE.

[94][95][96] In June 2018, after acquiring test status, Afghanistan changed their home base to Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Dehradun, India.

In limited-overs cricket, Afghanistan wears a predominantly blue kit with splashes of green, red, black, and, occasionally, yellow.

Previously also red, batters' helmets are blue as of late February 2024,[103] with the Afghanistan tricolor flag displayed above the ACB logo.

The current sponsors are Etisalat[104] and Super Cola[105] (previously Monarch Mart and Alokozay Group); the kit manufacturer is TYKA Sports.