Afghan girls given a sporting chance

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2021

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Female athletes faced brutal choices as allied forces withdrew from Afghanistan - to flee their homes and country or to stay and possibly abandon all hope of pursing their sporting dreams. Some made it onto those final flights out of the country, others faced dangerous journeys across borders with their friends and families. BBC journalist Sue Mitchell examines what has been happening to those who escaped and to the team mates they have left behind. Sue has been following the fortunes of teenage football players settling into new lives in the UK and female athletes stuck in limbo in Pakistan. When the UK Government announced it was granting asylum to the Afghanistan girls development youth football team there was relief that the teenagers could continue to play. Weeks on from that decision the girls are still in Pakistan awaiting visas, new homes and training opportunities. The uncertainty is compounded by stories of brutal acts committed against female athletes still in Afghanistan and worries about family members they have left behind. Kashif Siddiqi, the co-founder of charity Football for Peace, played a leading role in helping the girls flee Afghanistan. He said their perilous journey involved traveling in small groups and crossing the border wearing burqas. He is optimistic that sport can help them rebuild their lives and settle in communities linked by football. In Portugal a group of girl soccer players who were part of the Afghanistan under 15 and under 17 programs are already adjusting to their new lives. They are being helped by the former captain of the Afghanistan women’s soccer team, Farkhunda Muhtaj, who was already acutely aware of how difficult things were for the girls even before the Taliban returned to power. She fears that girls left behind will never play again. Those fears have recently been compounded by reports that a member of the Afghanistan women’s youth volleyball team has been beheaded by the Taliban in Kabul. Former team player, Zaharia Fayazi, relays the increasing anxiety she and others feel about those left behind.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Sue Mitchell and in this documentary, Afghan Girls given a sporting chance.
0:06.0	You'll hear stories of great hope, of new chances as girls fleeing Afghanistan settle into new lives.
0:14.0	When the airplane left the airport and we were on the air, we didn't know we should be happy.
0:22.0	Like someone was clapping, someone was crying.
0:25.0	I became so happy that I have a new chance to live in a new place and I have this chance to be a normal girl and I have this chance to play football.
0:35.0	But I'll also be reporting on those who have been left behind and months after the withdrawal of Allied troops, they're in a desperate position.
0:45.0	In Afghanistan, it is very hard, not just to Taliban.
0:51.0	Our life is hard to Afghanistan.
0:54.0	You clearly are taking a huge risk that if you are stopped by the Taliban and you are deemed to be somebody of interest to them, then that's it.
1:06.0	I live my home and my family because there is a lot of problems.
1:12.0	I've made contact with Mariam through a global network of lawyers and activists trying to help girls still in Afghanistan.
1:19.0	I'm not going to reveal too much about her because she's living in fear.
1:24.0	The Taliban, they told if we found we killed this woman and they heard our woman in the future, doesn't want to do anything like that.
1:34.0	So they would kill you to make an example of you to stop everyone else?
1:39.0	Yes.
1:40.0	She was part of a cycling team and it's a sport she loved and excelled at. Now she's in hiding, frightened for herself and the other girls she trained and competed with.
1:52.0	And how many girls are there?
1:54.0	Before the Taliban were 13 women and now I don't contact all the girls because some of girls doesn't hand said their phone because they operate for Taliban.
2:07.0	Shalamanya Gomez is part of the global network helping those in Afghanistan who face danger from the Taliban and need to get out of the country.
2:16.0	I think that her fear is a what-founded and I've definitely noticed a trend in the last two weeks that people are being searched,
2:24.0	Taliban are going to the houses, especially the ones who are a little bit famous or the ones who that they know of.
2:30.0	They're definitely seeking out people now, it's not a fear anymore, it's a reality.
	...

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