No future for women like me, says exiled Afghan soccer player
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[August 31, 2021]
By Stephane Mahe
PIRIAC-SUR-MER, France (Reuters) - As a
former player in the Afghanistan women's national soccer team, Fanoos
Basir saw no future for herself under Taliban rule.
She fled, and is now in a reception centre for refugees in France,
mourning the life she left behind.
"We had lots of dreams for our country, for our future, for the future
of women in Afghanistan," she said outside the reception centre, where
she arrived after being evacuated from Kabul on a French-organised
flight.
"This was our nightmare, that the Taliban would come and capture all of
Afghanistan," she said. "There is no future for women... for now."
The last time the Taliban ran Afghanistan, women were barred from taking
part in sport, or from working outside the home, and had to cover
themselves from head to toe when in public.
The Islamist movement was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, but
20 years later has taken power again and forced out a foreign military
mission, leading to the evacuation of tens of thousands of vulnerable
Afghans. The last flights left on Monday.
In 2010, Basir had joined a fledgling national soccer team that trained
in a dilapidated stadium and started to take part in tournaments abroad.
Pictures of her in her playing days show Basir, in football gear, her
head frequently uncovered, smiling and with her arms draped around her
teammates.
Now the Taliban is back, the national soccer team is shut down. A large
contingent of current players and staff were evacuated on board an
Australian military aircraft.
A former captain of the team urged players still in Afghanistan to burn
their sports gear and delete their social media accounts to avoid
Taliban reprisals.
Basir, who is 25, stopped playing for the national team several years
ago, and has since run a club side for women. She also worked as a civil
engineer.
She said that when the Taliban took control of the capital, Kabul on
Aug. 15, she did not go outside for days. When she did venture out, she
wore a burqa covering her face and body.
Besides women's soccer being now out of the question, Basir said she
faced having to give up her job.
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Afghan refugee Fanoos Basir, 25, a former player in the Afghanistan
women's national soccer team, poses in front of the Razay reception
centre in Piriac-sur-Mer following their evacuation from Afghanistan
last week, France, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Some Taliban officials have attempted to portray the
group as willing to allow more freedoms for women than previously
now that they are back in power. But many Afghans fear this is a
facade.
The Taliban has in some places told women they can only go out with
a male guardian, which Basir said would mean bringing her father or
brother with her every time she went to work.
She decided to try to leave, along with her frail parents.
She spent three consecutive days without success trying to get
through the crowds of people massing outside Kabul's airport. She
described seeing Taliban fighters firing their guns and beating
people with sticks.
When she spoke to Taliban representatives, she said they told her:
"You are a woman, we do not want to talk with you."
Basir said she and her family had given up hope of making it, when
they heard the French embassy had organised buses to pick up people
eligible for evacuation, and bring them to the airport. She and her
parents were able to get to the airport, and fly out.
They are now undergoing COVID-19 quarantine at the reception centre,
about 450 km (280 miles) west of Paris.
Eventually, she said, she hoped she could work as a civil engineer
in her new home. But for now, she felt she was in limbo.
"Leaving our country, our dreams, everything, is so hard for
everyone," she said. "Now we will start from zero."
(Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Angus MacSwan)
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