Islamabad: Thirty-two female soccer players from Afghanistan, who face threats from the Taliban, have reached Pakistan along with their families after the government issued an emergency humanitarian visa to evacuate them, according to media reports on Wednesday.
The football players belonging to the National Girls team were initially due to traveling to Qatar, where the Afghan refugees had housed in the FIFA World Cup 2022, but were left stranded after a bomb blast at Kabul airport which killed 13 years of US service members and at least 170 Afghans on August 26.
These women face threats from the Taliban because of their involvement in sports, Dawn Newspaper reported.
The Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August.
This female soccer player since hiding to avoid the Taliban, according to the report.
The movement to carry 32 footballers to Pakistan was initiated by the UK-based NGO football for peace in collaboration with the Government and the Pakistani Football Federation (PFF), which was not recognized by FIFA.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has visited Afghan refugees during his trip to Doha last week, but the global football agency has been criticized for not acting in helping female soccer players still in Afghanistan.
The soccer players will continue from Peshawar to Lahore where they will be placed at the PFF headquarters.