PIRIAC-SUR-MER, France – As a former player on the Afghanistan Women’s National Football Team, Fanus Basir did not see his future under the Taliban’s control.
She has fled and is now at a refugee reception centre in France, mourning the life she left behind.
“We had many dreams for our country, our future, the future of women in Afghanistan,” she said outside the reception centre. There she arrived after evacuating from Cabourg on a French-sponsored plane.
“This was our nightmare that the Taliban would come and occupy the whole of Afghanistan,” she said. “Women have no future … for now.”
When the Taliban last ran in Afghanistan, women were barred from participating in sports or working outside the home and had to hide from head to toe in public, according to Reuters.
The movement was expelled in 2001 by a US-led aggression, but 20 years later it regained power, forced foreign military missions, and led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of vulnerable Afghans. Last flight departing on Monday.
In 2010, Bashir trained in a dilapidated stadium and joined the fledgling national football team, who began participating in overseas tournaments.
Her photo during her play shows Bashir wearing football gear. Her head is not often covered, she smiles and her arms are over her teammates.
Now that the Taliban are back, the national football team is closed. A large delegation of current players and staff has evacuated on an Australian military aircraft.
A former captain of the team urged players still in Afghanistan to burn sporting goods and delete their social media accounts to avoid Taliban retaliation.
25-year-old Bashir stopped playing for the national team a few years ago and has been running a clubside for women ever since. She also worked as a civil engineer.
She said she hadn’t gone out for days when the Taliban ruled the capital Kabul on August 15. When she went on an adventure, she wore a burqa covering her face and body.
In addition to women’s football now being out of the question, Bashir said she faced having to give up her job.
Some Taliban officials have attempted to portray the group as willing to give women more freedom now that they have regained power. However, many Afghans are afraid that this is a façade.
The Taliban also tells women that they can only go out with male guardians. Bashir said it meant taking her father or sibling every time she went to work.
She decided to leave with her frail parents.
She spent three consecutive days unsuccessfully trying to overcome a crowd of people gathering outside the airport in Kabul. She said she saw Taliban militants firing guns and beating people with sticks.
When she spoke to the Taliban representative, she said they told her: “You are a woman, we don’t want to talk to you.”
Bassir said she and her family gave up hope to build it when they heard that the French embassy had picked up people to be evacuated and organized a bus to take them to the airport. rice field. She and her parents were able to arrive at the airport and take off.
They are currently undergoing Covid-19 quarantine at a reception centre about 450 km (280 miles) west of Paris.
In the end, she said she wanted to be able to work as a civil engineer in her new home. But for now, she feels confused.
“Leaving our country, our dreams, everything is very difficult for everyone,” she said. “Now we start from scratch.”
