Amid questions over the status of female athletes under the Taliban regime, the Afghan women’s football team has arrived in Pakistan, said Pakistan’s Information Minister Bout Chaudhry.
The minister wrote in a tweet: “Welcome to the Afghanistan women’s football team. They have come to Torkham Crossing from Afghanistan.” He added that a representative of the Pakistan Football Association was waiting for them.
The minister did not give any other details, it is not yet clear how many soldiers entered the country and what they plan to do next.
The group withdrew from Afghanistan in the wake of the mass exodus of women, intellectuals and civilians in particular since the Taliban seized power a month ago.
When the movement ruled the country twenty years ago, it banned girls from going to school and banned girls’ work and education. He banned women from exercising and is likely to continue this during his current regime.
A Taliban spokesman told the Australian broadcaster SBS last week that he believed women would not be allowed to play cricket because it was unnecessary and un-Islamic.
Many former and current female footballers fled the country after the Taliban took control, while the former captain of the team urged the rest of the players in Afghanistan to burn their sports equipment and delete their accounts on social media.
And the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) said last month: It is working to expel the remaining players in Afghanistan.
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