Lisbon: The Afghan women’s national football squad was frightened since they’d been traveling throughout the country for weeks, waiting for permission to leave. They arrived in Lisbon, Portugal, late Sunday.
The news arrived early Sunday that the girls and their families would be transported from Afghanistan to an unknown destination via a charter flight. They had already boarded the buses that would take them to the airport.
“They left their homes and left everything behind,” Farkhunda Muhtaj, the captain of the Afghanistan women’s national team who from her home in Canada had spent the last few weeks communicating with the girls and working to help arrange their rescue, told the Associated Press. “They can’t fathom that they’re out of Afghanistan.”
The girls, ages 14 to 16, and their families had been attempting to flee Afghanistan since the US withdrawal, fearful of what their lives would be like under the Taliban — not only because women and girls are forbidden to play sports, but also because they were advocates for girls and active members of their communities.
Recently, Muhtaj, members of the soccer team and some of their family members, and soccer federation personnel spoke with the Associated Press this week about their final days in Afghanistan, the international effort to save them, and the possibility of their newfound freedom.
According to Nic McKinley, a CIA and Air Force veteran who founded Dallas-based DeliverFund, a nonprofit that has secured housing for 50 Afghan families, the rescue mission, dubbed Operation Soccer Balls, was coordinated with the Taliban through an international coalition of former US military and intelligence officials, US Senator Chris Coons, US allies, and humanitarian groups.
“This all had to happen very, very quickly. Our contact on the ground told us that we had a window of about three hours,” said McKinley. “Time was very much of the essence.”
Operation Soccer (football) Balls have seen a number of setbacks, including numerous unsuccessful rescue operations and a suicide bombing at the Kabul airport by Islamic State terrorists, the Taliban’s main enemies, which killed 169 Afghans and 13 US servicemen. The incident occurred during a terrifying airlift in which the US military admitted to cooperating with the Taliban to some extent.
The group’s size – 80 persons, including the 26 youth team members as well as parents and other youngsters, including infants — complicated the rescue mission.
Portugal offered the girls and their family shelter to the refugees, according to Robert McCreary, a former congressional chief of staff and White House official under President George W. Bush who had worked with special operations in Afghanistan and assisted in the rescue of the national girls’ soccer team.
“The world came together to help these girls and their families,” said McCreary. “These girls are truly a symbol of light for the world and humanity.”
Muhtaj, who is also a teacher, claimed she helped the girls to stay calm by giving them virtual exercise and yoga sessions, as well as school projects like writing autobiographies, as they went from safehouse to safehouse.
She said she couldn’t share details about the rescue mission with the girls or their families and asked them to believe in her and others “blindly.”
“Their mental state was deteriorating. Many of them were homesick. Many of them missed their friends in Kabul,” said Muhtaj. “They had unconditional faith. We’ve revived their spirit.”
Through an interpreter, some of the girls spoke with the AP. They said they want to keep playing soccer, which they were advised not to do while in hiding, and that they wish to meet Cristiano Ronaldo, Manchester United’s forward and a native of Portugal.
The girls were tearful following their release, according to Wida Zemarai, a goalkeeper and coach for the Afghanistan women’s national soccer team who relocated to Sweden when the Taliban took power in 1996.
“They can dream now,” Zemarai said. “They can continue to play.”
