Two female taekwondo stars give up dream after Taliban takeover in Afghanistan

Photo for representational purpose. Picture Courtesy/iStock

After the Taliban takeover in Afghanistan, two emerging Taekwondo stars have to give up on their dreams, international media reported. The dreams of two sisters - Nilab Wali, 26, and Anzoorat Wali, 19 had collapsed due to the sudden political change in Afghanistan, a Texas-based daily newspaper reported. Both of them were rising stars in Afghanistan's Taekwondo, according to The Dallas Morning News.

"I joined taekwondo because a woman in Afghanistan should be a fighter for herself; that is why I started. But then I fell in love with it," Nilab said adding that "most of the time, I was going out of the house and seeing other ladies being teased. I did not want them to come to me and be teased; that is why I should be ready and fight them back." Anzoorat said she wanted nothing more than to follow in her sister's footsteps to prove she could stand up for herself and for others.

"I started in gymnastics, and after that, I saw my sister doing taekwondo. The fighting and the demonstrations were so interesting to me," she said. The Wali sisters have won an array of contests both in and out of their once beloved country. "Although I did not win my first fight, it is the highlight of everything," Nilab said adding that "it proved to me that I could fight." "They (the Taliban) will not allow girls to participate; there has already been an announcement saying it is not proper for women to do such sports," Anzoorat said, as per The Dallas Morning News.

The Taliban, after taking control of Kabul in mid-August, had emphasised that women's rights will be shielded according to Sharia, or Islamic law, without further elaboration. It inflamed fears among women that international standards of freedom, democracy and human dignity, which were established as the result of twenty years of hard work, will be replaced with the restricted role supported by Islamist norms. The fear started deepening as, during the announcement of interim government by the Taliban, the group did not include any women in the cabinet despite the repeated call by other countries for an inclusive government. The Taliban's previous reign during the 1990s also terrifies women over their treatment of women.

The Taliban, after seizing Herat city, sent female students and employees home and began to stress Islamic Sharia to define women's rights. It demonstrated that the Taliban attempted to justify restricting women and rolling back many of the freedom earned by women over the last 20 years. With the exodus of women's activists, professionals, and leaders, Afghanistan will face a lack of a professional cadre to advance women's rights and their participation in the decision-making process, according to the Afghan Diaspora Network.

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