Members of Afghanistan’s national women’s football team have fled across the border into Pakistan, a month after the Taliban swept back into power, officials say. According to Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry, the players entered Pakistan through the northwestern Torkham border crossing holding valid travel documents.
“We welcome Afghanistan women football team, they arrived at Torkham Border from Afghanistan,” said Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s information minister, in a tweet, adding they were received by a representative of the Pakistan Football Federation. It was unclear how many Afghan female players and their family members were allowed to enter Pakistan and what their plans are. However, Pakistan’s The Dawn newspaper on Wednesday reported the Afghan female footballers were issued emergency humanitarian visas following the Taliban takeover of Kabul. The Afghan National Girls Youth Football Team was originally supposed to travel to Qatar by air but was left stranded in Kabul after the suicide attack outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport last month. They were in hiding till their escape early this week. Afghanistan’s new rulers, who banned women from playing all sport during their first rule in the 1990s, have indicated that women and girls will face restrictions in playing sport. The group of junior players and their coaches and families had tried to escape the country last month but a devastating bomb attack at Kabul airport left them stranded, someone close to the team told AFP news agency.
