LONDON, Aug 17: In frantic phone calls and voice messages, Khalida Popal can hear the distress and tearful pleas for help.
The football players in the Afghanistan women’s national team that Popal helped establish now fear for their lives after the Taliban swept to regain control of the country after two decades. When they call, all Popal can do is advise them to flee their homes, escape from neighbors who know them as pioneering players, and try to erase their history. “I have been encouraging to take down social media channels, take down photos, escape and hide themselves,” Popal told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from Denmark.
“That breaks my heart because of all these years we have worked to raise the visibility of women and now I’m telling my women in Afghanistan to shut up and disappear. Their lives are in danger.”
The 34-year-old Popal can barely comprehend the speed of the collapse of the Afghan government and the sense of being abandoned by Western nations who helped to topple the Taliban in 2001. Having fled with her family after the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996, Popal returned to Afghanistan two decades ago. “My generation had the hope of building the country, developing the situation for the next generation of women and men in the country,” she said.
By 2007, there were enough players for Popal to be part of Afghanistan’s first women’s national team. “We felt so proud of wearing the jersey,” Popal said. “It was the most beautiful, best feeling ever.”
On her teammates, she adds, “We would not have created enemies,” Popal said. “They are crying. They are just crying … they are sad. They are just like desperate. They have so many questions. What is happening to them isn’t fair.”
It’s hard to even imagine Afghanistan, ranked 152nd by FIFA out of 167 women’s teams, ever playing again. (AP)
