Afghanistan‘s women’s football Players say they are at risk of becoming sex slaves Taliban and being tortured to death.
Football is highly popular in Afghanistan, with national stars enjoying a large profile, with both men’s and women’s sports being broadcast on TV, making players highly visible targets for the new regime.
During the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, a number of sports and recreational activities, including football, were banned for all civilians, while women were also forbidden from leaving home with a male relative and often horrific sexual assaults. were under.
Now international stars, many of whom are in hiding, say they fear being caught and beaten by terrorists.
Goalkeeping coach Vida Zamarai tells Swedish news outlet expressen: ‘It’s terrible to think. He himself has said that he is for jihad and that he chooses girls as sex slaves.
‘If the Taliban captures any of the girls, they won’t make her stay at home like a doll. They want to use and torture them as sex slaves. Maybe till he dies.
Afghanistan’s goalkeeping coach Vida Zamarai (pictured) said players fear becoming sexual slaves to the Taliban
Football is highly popular in Afghanistan, with national stars enjoying a larger profile, thanks to both men’s and women’s sports being televised.
Zemrai and his family had earlier fled Afghanistan in 1992 when the Taliban was seizing the country by force.
She returned to the country to play as a goalkeeper since 2014 and now works as a coach, and has been in contact with at-risk players under the new regime.
He said: ‘Suppose the Taliban recognizes a player… they just pick the player, torture him and get information about where the rest of the players are.’
The sports star said women have been victims of sexual harassment before, but the risk to the Taliban is ten times greater than anything they have experienced.
Former captain Khaleda Pople, who left Afghanistan in 2011 after receiving death threats, said she is still sleeping worrying about her teammates in the country.
Former Afghanistan captain Khaleda Pople, who left Afghanistan after receiving death threats in 2011, said she is still worried about her teammates in the country.
During the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, many sports and recreational activities, including football, were banned for all civilians.
The 34-year-old, who helped build the women’s national team, said she has been advising players to run away from their homes, burn photographs and football kits, and try to erase their history.
She said: ‘I am encouraging you to delete social media channels, take pictures, run away and hide yourself.
‘Even I am telling them to get burnt or get rid of your national team uniform.’
‘It breaks my heart because all these years we have worked to increase the visibility of women and now I am telling our women in Afghanistan to shut up and disappear. His life is in danger.
After fleeing with her family after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban in 1996, Popal returned to Afghanistan two decades ago as a teenager, living in a refugee camp in Pakistan.
With the protection of the international community, the Pope was optimistic that women’s rights would be promoted.
‘My generation hoped to build the country, develop the condition for the next generation of women and men in the country. So I started with other young women using football as a tool to empower women and girls.
After fleeing with her family after the capture of Kabul by the Taliban in 1996, Popal returned to Afghanistan as a teenager two decades ago
By 2007, there were enough players for Popal to be part of Afghanistan’s first women’s national team.
“We felt very proud to wear the jersey,” said Pople. ‘It was the most beautiful, best feeling ever.’
He encouraged his comrades to speak up as escalating attacks were re-seeing Taliban territory.
“I got so many death threats and challenges because I was quoted on national TV,” he said. ‘I was calling the Taliban my enemy.’
Pople stopped playing in 2011 to serve as director at the Afghanistan Football Association, but threats continued and he was forced to flee to Denmark in 2016 to seek asylum.
He said, ‘My life was in great danger.
But she never spared female footballers, helping to expose the physical and sexual abuse, death threats and rape that implicated the Afghanistan federation’s leadership.
‘They’re hiding. Most of them left their homes and hid with relatives because their neighbors knew they were sportsmen. They are sitting, they are afraid. The Taliban is over. They are creating fear all around.
Afghanistan women’s team captain Shabnam Mobarez has urged FIFA to help her teammates in the country after the Taliban takeover.
Mobarez made an emotional tweet calling on football’s governing body to help his ‘sisters’
Meanwhile, 25-year-old current captain Shabnam Mobarez, who is living in the United States, has asked the world football governing body to intervene in the situation in his home country.
Mobarez posted his explanation of the conversation on Twitter, recalling a conversation he had with a colleague, which began with him saying: “Are you okay?”
‘ My teammate in Afghanistan: “No, I’m not – I know they’ll come for me soon, can you help me?”
‘@FIFAcom How should I answer this question? We must work to save our comrades. Are they my sisters?’
Mobarez also revealed that the Afghan Football Federation has left the team, hence why she is appealing to FIFA for help.
‘They are hiding in the house of family or friends without revealing their identity. Even the members and staff of the Afghan Football Federation disappeared, they should have protected them and there is no one there.
‘It seems people who had money left and now we have all these helpless women who are left to fend for themselves.
‘I would love to be able to help them more, but the situation is so tense that, right now, if they leave the house, they will be killed.
‘For now, the best thing to do is to wait for the situation to calm down. There is a chance that Taliban will knock on their door and tomorrow they will not be with us.
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