They move from place to place in a desperate time to evade the Taliban: girls with lives in danger for the simple fact of choosing to play a sport they loved.
An international effort to evacuate members of Afghanistan’s women’s national football team, along with dozens of family members and staff from the football federation, suffered a setback last week after an attack suicide at Kabul airport 169 Afghans and 13 members of the US service were killed during a terrifying airlift.
Now, frightened and desperate, the girls worry about whether a broad coalition of former U.S. military and intelligence officials, congressmen, U.S. allies, humanitarian groups and the captain of the U.S. women’s national team Afghanistan can protect them and their loved ones.
“They’re amazing ladies who should play in the garden, play on the set, play with their friends, and here they are in a very bad situation for doing nothing but playing football,” said Robert McCreary, a former head of Congress cabinet and White House official of President George W. Bush who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan. “We have to do everything we can to protect them and get them in a safe situation.”
The suicide attack at the airport was carried out by Islamic State militants who are jury rivals of the Taliban. The U.S. military has acknowledged that during the airlift it coordinated to some extent with the Taliban who set up checkpoints around the airport for crowd control and, in recent days, facilitated the evacuation of American citizens.
The Taliban have tried to present a new image, promising amnesty to former opponents and saying they would form an inclusive government. Many Afghans do not trust these promises, fearing that the Taliban will resort quickly to the brutal tactics of their 1996-2001 government, including banning girls and women from schools and jobs. The Taliban have been vague in their policy toward women so far, but have not yet issued broad repressive edicts.
Most members of the Afghan women’s team, formed in 2007, were evacuated to Australia last week.
But girls, ages 14 to 16, and their families could also be attacked by the Taliban, not only because women and girls are banned from playing sports, but because they were advocates for girls and active members of their communities, he said. say Farkhunda Muhtaj, who is captain of the Afghan women’s team and lives in Canada.
“They are devastated. They have no hope, given the situation they are in, ”said Muhtaj, who keeps in touch with the girls and urges them to remain calm.
There have been at least five failed attempts to rescue the girls in recent days as they were relocated for their safety, McCreary and Muhtaj said. They were “the steps of freedom” when the suicide bombing took place, Muhtaj said.
The complication of the rescue effort is the size of the group: 133 people, including the 26 members of the youth team, as well as adults and other children, including babies. Many do not have passports or other documentation required to board flights from Kabul.
McCreary said the mission, called Operation Soccer Balls, is working with other countries, hoping the girls will settle in the United States. He said Australia, France and Qatar have expressed interest in helping. He also urged the Taliban to facilitate the exit of the group, saying it would create goodwill.
“If we can put a protective bubble around these young women and girls … I really think the world will stand up and take note and have a lot of offers to welcome them and welcome them,” McCreary said.
Former U.S. women’s soccer team captain Julie Foudy, two-time World Cup champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist, said rescue efforts “increase the visibility of these young women and its importance for equality and democracy and all these things that I value in this country. “
“Like so many of us who can resist as female athletes – as humans – and we say,‘ It’s a time we have to come together and do what’s right, ’we should absolutely do it,” she said.
Nic McKinley, a CIA and Air Force veteran who founded Dallas-based DeliverFund, a nonprofit organization insured for 50 Afghan families, said he understood the United States was focused on relocating. of the Afghans who helped the American forces, but who others also need help.
“What about the girl who just wants to do a ball around a field and wants to do it well and who has worked hard to do it globally who is suddenly in danger just because she just wanted to play a sport “And I had a passion for the sport?” he said. “The only thing they had done wrong in the eyes of the Taliban … is the fact that girls had been born and had the audacity to dream of doing something.”
McCreary said the rescue team feels personally responsible because the U.S. helped the girls go to school and play football.
“We have to protect them now,” he said. “They shouldn’t jeopardize the things we helped them do.”
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