Afghan Girls Football Team Get Visas by the UK After Pleading for Sanctuary from the Taliban
(Photo : ARIF ALI/AFP via Getty Images)
Members of Afghanistan's national girls football team arrive at the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) in Lahore on September 15, 2021, a month after the hardline Taliban swept back into power officials said

The Afghan girls' football team gets visas approved after asking for help before being sent back from Pakistan after their 30-day permits run out. The UK allows their visas to be processed along with their coaches and families.

They fled to Pakistan overland to escape the clutches of the Jihadis who had begun terrorizing fellow Afghans with their strict laws. If they did not get the visas sooner, going back to Kabul would have exposed the team members, families, and coaches to the tender mercies of the Talibs.

Last-minute save by the UK

As of the report, the all-girl football team was informed of the United Kingdom's decision to rescue them from the terror Jihadis, reported the Daily Mail.

According to Home Secretary Priti Patel, who allows the team to have all visa applications for approval, as many as 111 applications were processed as a humanitarian concern.

These young women and their group were in danger of getting kicked back to Afghanistan. Pakistan gave the temporary permits without extension. On the run and escaping the cruel Taliban would have terrible consequences when asylum ended.

One source said Ms. Patel remarked that she is serious about the new Afghan resettlement scheme, which includes protecting the rights of women and girls, cited The Independent.

Once the girls' team is admitted to the UK, it will be a second home that is not haunted by the fear and persecution of the Islamist Jihadis.

Canberra comes to assist before permit deadline ends 

The Australian government pitched in to help the strike women footballers, and arrangements were made to fly them to Portugal as asylum seekers. Now that the Afghan girls' football team gets visas approved, it will be a new life.

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Pleas for help on media have spurred Leeds United and other organizations to vouch for the women and their families, even their coaches who faced an uncertain future. All these actions led to London agreeing to take them in, pending visa applications and asylum in the UK.

A month back, the Leeds club chair, Andrea Radrizzani agreed to take the players for a better future, noted Arab News.

One of the girls' football team sponsors, Kashif Siddiqi, co-founder of charity Football for Peace, is their staunchest supporter. Efforts paid off as Ms. Patel and PM Boris Johnson consented and rolled the ball for admitting the women, adding they have a future now in the UK.

One statement said that visas would enhance life, education is a right not to be taken, and playing football as the liberties preserved are not taken away.

Siddiqi thanked Johnson and Patel for lending an ear and allowing all the team members a better future via football. Adding if there is no Britain, the women will be sent back to a nightmare in Afghanistan. Given visas, the team members have a chance to play for Leeds United and other football clubs.

Women are getting curtailed by the Taliban

The Jihadis made public stressing that all women sports are banned. Reasoning out that women indulging in sports activities are not covered head to toe, not following Sharia law.

The command of the new deputy culture minister, Ahmadullah Wasiq, said even the Sharia Law would not allow females to play cricket. He then said, why should they if they are not covered.

According to Home Secretary Patel, All the Afghan girls' football team members get visas when approved by the government instead of getting sent back.

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