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Afghanistan Women’s Soccer Team Arrives in Pakistan After Fleeing Taliban Rule

The Taliban’s cultural commission previously said it won’t allow women to “play the kind of sports where they get exposed.”

Afghanistan’s women’s soccer team has fled the country after the Taliban made it clear they would no longer be allowed to compete. Reuters reported that the team was welcomed at the Pakistan border on Wednesday by a representative of the country’s soccer federation, but it’s not clear how many players made the journey or where they’ll go now. There has been an exodus of female talent from Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power last month. The deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, was quoted as saying last week that the Taliban won’t allow women to “play the kind of sports where they get exposed.” Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s information minister, confirmed in a Wednesday morning tweet: “We welcome Afghanistan women football team, they arrived at Torkham Border from Afghanistan.”