For girls and young women accustomed to mountain climbing and physical training six times a week, being confined in a crowded wedding hall near an airport in northern Afghanistan is a challenge. different: one with their luck at stake.
It is the new reality for dozens of them affiliated with Ascend, an organization that teaches Afghan women and girls athletic leadership skills. They arrived at Mazar-e-Sharif airport ten days ago to make evacuation flights that the Taliban have blocked, raising fears of being left behind.
“We’re trying to remind them that we haven’t forgotten you. The world hasn’t forgotten you,” Marina LeGree, founder and CEO of Ascend, told ABC News. “But some of them lose hope.”
As the first passenger flight out of Kabul since the Taliban took power took off on Thursday, with some U.S. and other Westerners on board, death or life concerns for Afghans at risk. who are still in the country, especially for women like those from Ascend who have exercised independence for the past 20 years, free from Taliban rule.
Founded in 2014, Ascend is a U.S.-based nonprofit operating in Afghanistan that recruits a new group of young Afghan girls and women ages 15 to 24 each year to embark on a mountaineering program. of two years. The recruits, who have been trained at Ghaza Stadium, used by the last Taliban government for public punishment, have a mission to foster leadership, volunteering and physical and mental well-being for the next generation.
But if Mazar-e-Sharif’s group lags behind, LeGree fears they will marry Taliban fighters, or worse.
Confrontation at Mazar-e-Sharif
For more than a week, the Taliban have not allowed at least six charter flights out of Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport in northern Afghanistan, saying some evacuees do not have the proper documents to to leave. The confrontation is becoming terrible for some passengers, including the women of Ascend.
LeGree, speaking to ABC News in Naples, where he is trying to help the State Department and others, said his group traveled from Kabul without their families with the understanding that they would be evacuated days ago. They have told him since how the bathrooms become “disgusting” and it’s hard to sleep.
“I have teenagers separated from their families in this kind of environment with the Taliban and men everywhere. It’s uncontrolled and it’s not at all comfortable,” he said.
Many women affiliated with Ascend were born earlier or were too young to remember the last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan: when they were banned from attending school, they were forced to wear burqa that all she included it and was accompanied by a male relative every time they went outside. . Accustomed to their independence, with 80% of Ascend graduates pursuing higher education, they fear their future under the new “provisional government” of the Taliban, which so far does not include any women in power.
LeGree blamed the United States for promising to evacuate Afghans at risk but wasting “precious time,” as the Taliban have organized.
“It’s a lot of women at risk of being left to the slaughter if we can’t do something; I’m horrified that my government has such a weak response,” LeGree said.
“We’ve given you all the details of these people, you deleted them and called them to come, and now you’re saying,‘ You have to have travel documents and don’t worry if you do, you already have to leave? ’ a total abdication of responsibility, and it is simply – it is morally disgusting, “he added.
There are at least 1,000 people trying to get out of Mazar-e-Sherif on these charter flights, he said, including at least 19 U.S. citizens and two green card holders. He has been told that the Taliban have entered the exploitation center several times and taken people out, but those in contact do not know why.
So, for now, wait.
State Department spokesman Ned Price said Thursday that the Biden administration was doing everything possible to get the planes off the ground, including private talks with the Taliban through Special Envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the new American mission in Doha.
“The United States has taken all available levers to facilitate the departure of these charter flights from Mazar. Charter flights, of course, have not taken off from Mazar. I can tell you that it has nothing to do with any inaction or an action by the U.S. government and we were clear that we want the Taliban to allow those who have expressed a desire to leave this way to do so, ”he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Wednesday that Mazar-e-Sharif charter flights “need to move,” but that there are “limits” to what the United States can achieve without ground staff and without an airport. under his control. He said he understood that the Taliban have opposed flights that combine passengers who have valid travel documents and those who do not.
LeGree said this is not enough.
“It was a very hard day for me to see what Blinken was saying, because my hopes were high, because I was in Doha, it would be easy for him to pressure Qatar and pressure the Taliban to let us go … and it didn’t happen, ”he said.
While Ascend has successfully seen the evacuations of 56 employees and Afghans, LeGree said it will be difficult to sleep until the 88 who asked to be evacuated are out.
Despite the difficulties, Ascend plans to continue operating with some capacity when the situation in Afghanistan calms down. There are still about 150 women and alumni affiliated with the program who are left behind and have expressed hope in continuing their mission. Ascend moved into a new facility this year and LeGree paid the landlord’s rent on Wednesday while occupying the building, though she’s not sure if she herself will be able to return to the country she also loves.
“Don’t assume we’re closing the store. It’s just the opposite,” LeGree said. “We need to keep the light shining on Afghan women and girls. The Taliban have come to power now, but they need to govern. We will be there with them.”
American women are growing in support
When Jahna Cook and Danielle Jefko of Madison, Wisconsin learned that Ascend had women trapped in Afghanistan in hopes of evacuating, they heard a call to participate from the United States.
“Their stories pulled our hearts out and touched us at home because we’re women, we’re mothers and we climb together,” Cook said. “The freedom, accomplishment and leadership that these girls have so clearly on the mountain was so relevant, and to see them face the crisis, we knew we had to do something.”
Inspired by Ascend’s annual 50K race in the UK, Cook and Jefko made plans for a 50K sister, before moving the race for two weeks, as the rented planes carrying Ascend members remained on the ground. The women recorded photos of the girls along their route, she said, to keep their intention at the forefront.
The two continue to encourage others to donate to Ascend’s resettlement fund or call their elected representatives.
“We want to make sure people know that this is not a closed issue,” Cook said. “There are still people who desperately need our help.”
Conor Finnegan of ABC News contributed to this report.