Afghanistan Girls Football Team Gets Asylum In Portugal

The girls on Afghanistan¡¯s national soccer team were anxious and with good reason. For several weeks they were moving all over the country waiting for news that they could leave.

Each of them wants to be a professional footballer when they grow up.

On September 19 they got the good news - a charter flight would take them along with their families, as per AP. The destination was still unknown.

¡°They left their homes and left everything behind,¡± said Farkhunda Muhtaj, the captain of the Afghanistan women¡¯s national team from Canada who had spent the last few weeks communicating with the girls and working to help them.

AP

¡°They can¡¯t fathom that they¡¯re out of Afghanistan,¡± she added.

Since USA pulled out, the girls who are between the ages of 14 and 16, and their families, had been trying to leave.

On September 19, they landed in Lisbon, Portugal.

The rescue mission was called Operation Soccer Balls and was coordinated with the Taliban through an international coalition of former U.S. military and intelligence officials, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, U.S. allies, and humanitarian groups.

AP

It was a group of 80 people, including the 26 youth team members.

Wida Zemarai, a goalkeeper and coach for the Afghanistan women¡¯s football team who moved to Sweden in 1996 when the Taliban came to power, said they girls lef their emotions out after being rescued.

¡°They can dream now,¡± she said.

¡°They can continue to play,¡± she added.