Five years of Taliban rule have plunged Afghanistan into a deep crisis, marked by international isolation and the marginalization of half of the population. Under the group’s authoritarian rule, repression and restrictions have deprived women of education, sports, employment, and social activities, erasing two decades of their achievements.
Sport, which had been open to both genders before the Taliban takeover, has become male-only under the group’s rule, with women excluded from all sporting fields. This report tells the stories of female athletes who once brought pride to Afghanistan but have now been forgotten amid struggles to earn a living and stay safe, while some are enduring difficult lives in exile.
Ramzia Saeedi is one of the athletes who spent 10 years competing in Rustami wrestling and taekwondo. Those years were filled with achievements as well as considerable hardship, turning her into one of Afghanistan’s prominent athletes. But after the Taliban banned women’s sports, she faced difficult years under the group’s rule and was eventually forced to leave the country. Life in exile and its hardships have made continuing her athletic career an unattainable dream.
During her athletic career, she achieved numerous accomplishments. One of her major achievements was participating in two international competitions in Turkmenistan and Indonesia, where she won first place in martial arts and raised the Afghan flag among competitors from more than 60 countries.
With pride but also regret over five years of deprivation, she recalls those golden years: “During my athletic career, I achieved many accomplishments for my family and my country. I participated in two international competitions held in Turkmenistan and Indonesia, at the Asian and regional levels, with more than 60 countries taking part, and I won first place. In 2017 and 2018, I also won many medals. In domestic competitions held between cities, at the Olympic level or in sports complexes, I won first place in the 55-kilogram category and was recognized as the top athlete of my class.”
Ramzia speaks of her achievements while mourning five years of being deprived of sports, her homeland, and the international competitions she dreamed of attending. She says with regret that if she had been allowed to continue playing sports, she would have won many more medals for her country by now.
Over the past two decades, Afghan women made remarkable strides in sports and, through determination and perseverance, challenged gender stereotypes surrounding women’s participation in athletics in Afghanistan’s traditional society. But after the Taliban returned to power, women’s sports were once again banned, and the achievements these athletes had worked so hard to attain have been buried under restrictive policies.
Ramzia was also among those who challenged social beliefs, traditions, and discriminatory attitudes and succeeded in changing the views of those around her toward women’s participation in sports. But the Taliban’s return to power, which does not even tolerate women’s presence in public life, brought an end to years of her efforts and hard work.
She says: “The republic era provided a good opportunity for women’s sports, and these opportunities and achievements did not come easily. We girls, despite objections from our families and negative comments from people, would leave our homes without fear and walk through the streets carrying our sports bags to reach the gym. We wanted to normalize the idea that sports and carrying sports equipment should be just as acceptable for women as they are for men, and that sports equipment can be a symbol of strength for women too. At first, we were harassed a lot, but later people became accustomed to us and understood that sports were not bad for women. Every day, we saw more girls entering gyms, until our names became known not only inside the country but also around the world, and we achieved great honors.”
After sports facilities were closed and women were banned from playing sports, Ramzia was forced to leave Afghanistan and seek refuge in a neighboring country, a country that offered neither safety nor the opportunity to continue training. Like many other Afghan refugees, she is struggling to earn a living and searching for a sense of peace that she has not experienced during the past five years.
She describes the hardships of migration and separation from her homeland: “We did not migrate; we were forced to migrate. I was driven to flee by the oppression of the oppressors, by the pain of people dying before my eyes, and by hunger. No one wants to leave their peaceful home for a foreign palace. I could no longer continue sports or my education; I lost both. Life in exile showed me another side of itself. I lost my mother because of worry and anxiety, a pain I will never forget, and I do not know who was responsible for it. I went from being a successful person to someone whose mind and spirit are wounded.”
Aziza is another athlete who devoted many years to sports with the dream of becoming a world champion. She spent five years practicing freestyle fighting and, during the final three years of the republic, took up boxing. With the support of her family, particularly her father, she achieved considerable success and was recognized as one of the top fighters in martial arts.
After women’s sports were banned, Aziza secretly trained with her friends in the basements of their homes during the first two years of Taliban rule. But as the Taliban remained in power and the risk of arrest increased, they eventually abandoned their efforts and stopped their underground activities: “When the government fell, even before news of the Taliban’s arrival, some sports halls had already closed. After the fall of Kabul, we did not even hear the word sports or female athletes anymore, because sports became a crime for women. From that day on, I lost both my education and my sports career.”
Aziza, who had won medals in domestic and international competitions, is now confined to her home and spends her days doing embroidery: “The dreams I had for these years were beautiful and full of achievements and honors. Perhaps I would have become a coach, won many international competitions, and by now become one of the world champions. But now I do embroidery and sometimes sewing, and my days pass with regret and tears.”
Roya, a pseudonym, is a boxing instructor and coach whose story is similar to those of other female athletes: being prevented from continuing her sport, social isolation, and a bleak future she has struggled with for five years. After being deprived of education and sports, she was also forced to leave Afghanistan and now lives in Iran, where Afghan migrants face severe discrimination and repression.
Roya has bitter memories of her three years in Iran. She wanted to continue her sport and pursue her dreams there, but discrimination against migrants prevented her from doing so: “For a full year, I searched for a gym where I could continue training, but I failed. Despite the money they charged me, they would allow me to train with them for only one week, and then they would expel me again on one pretext or another. When I realized I could not continue at the gyms, I trained with some of my fellow Afghans in parks, but we were subjected to severe harassment. Because of these difficulties, I eventually gave up.”
Roya now works in a sewing factory and dreams of seeing Afghanistan freed from Taliban rule so she can return home a dream shared by many young Afghans, from those at home to those living in exile, all waiting for freedom.
Women’s sports have been banned in Afghanistan even as, during the five years of Taliban rule, some female Afghan athletes have managed, through great effort and hardship, to achieve remarkable success abroad. Zakia Khudadadi, an Afghan para-taekwondo athlete, became European champion for the second time, while Zakia Ahmadi recently became the first Afghan woman to summit Mount Everest. These achievements demonstrate the determination, hard work, and talent of Afghan women.
