Effort underway to rescue girls soccer team from Afghanistan
Source: AP
By ALEX SANZ and TAMMY WEBBER an hour ago
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An international effort to evacuate members of the Afghanistan national girls soccer team, along with dozens of family members and soccer federation staff, suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport killed 169 Afghans and 13 U.S. service members during a harrowing airlift.
Now, frightened and desperate, the girls worry whether a far-flung coalition of former U.S. military and intelligence officials, congressmen, U.S. allies, humanitarian groups and the captain of the Afghanistan womens national team can get them and their loved ones to safety.
Theyre just unbelievable young ladies who should be playing in the backyard, playing on the swing set, playing with their friends, and here theyre in a very bad situation for doing nothing more than playing soccer, said Robert McCreary, a former congressional chief of staff and White House official under President George W. Bush who has worked with special forces in Afghanistan. We need to do everything that we can to protect them, to get them to a safe situation.
Most members of the Afghan womens team, formed in 2007, were evacuated to Australia last week.
But the girls, ages 14-16, and their families also could be targeted by the Taliban not just because women and girls are forbidden to play sports, but because they were advocates for girls and active members of their communities, said Farkhunda Muhtaj, who is captain of the Afghanistan womens national team and lives in Canada................................................................................................................
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/soccer-womens-soccer-lifestyle-sports-afghanistan-8dd04ceeb561a2bc11744dd4c123e0b8?traffic_source=Connatix
I want to be hopeful for these girls and their families--but it is hard.
In this photo provided to The Associated Press, members of the Afghanistan national girls youth soccer team and their families are seen in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sun., Aug. 29, 2021. International efforts to rescue them and soccer federation staff suffered a crushing setback last week after a suicide bomb detonated at the Kabul airport and the CIA blew up its last remaining outpost to keep sensitive information and equipment from falling into the hands of the Taliban. (AP Photo)
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