Afghan women football team who are about 35 and their families, have been airlifted to the United Kingdom, through the help of American reality TV star, Kim Kardashian.
According to reports, the Afghan women football team and their family members who are about 130 in total and threatened in their country by the Taliban’s return to power arrived in the UK on Thursday.
The players, who narrowly missed the airlift in Kabul in August, fled to Pakistan with their families after the Taliban took power, but only had a 30-day visa there.
They landed very early Thursday at London Stansted Airport, according to the ROKiT Foundation, which helped them in their escape.
According to UK news agency PA, they were evacuated to the UK on a flight funded by reality star Kim Kardashian. Siu-Anne Gill, CEO of the ROKiT Foundation, said she was “extremely touched by the courage of these girls”, saying she hoped “the football family” would help them “with this second chance in their life.”
Leeds support
The young footballers have notably received the support of Leeds United football club, whose owner, Andrea Radrizzani, said in a statement “delighted” at the arrival in the United Kingdom. “It demonstrates the power of football, and sport in general, as a force for good and how the football community is able to collaborate and mobilize to save lives,” he added. Leeds United had offered to welcome the players to the junior teams in order to give these girls “a prosperous future”.
“Like the others we have brought from Afghanistan to the UK, the girls of the Afghan team’s women’s team will receive a warm welcome, support and accommodation,” a UK government spokesperson said.
The UK evacuated more than 15,000 people during the Kabul airlift in the two weeks following the return to power of the Taliban in mid-August, including nearly 8,600 Afghans eligible for the ARAP program of relocation and aid to Afghans having worked with the British.