“We were two days waiting outside the airport, at some point they shot us through the dirty water in which we were submerged, they trampled because we can not keep well on their feet. It was a Calvary. We hold with the hope of being able to escape Spain. After
From the explosion everything is over “, these are the statements of one of the players of the Afghan female selection of wheelchair basketball.
More than 2,200 Afghans have been evacuated by the Spanish Government since the Taliban were done with the control of the city of Kabul.
One of them, was Nilofar Bayat, captain of this selection.
Another player of this team also ran the same fate as she and fled to the United States.
The rest?
They were trapped in the chaos of Afghan capital.
13 women who have tried by all means flee from their country.
They asked for the help of Edith, Spanish historian, and Alejandro, a telecommunications specialist, because both knew Nilofar and believed that they two could get them safeguards to reach Spain.
He has not been an easy task, since the situation of the capital of Afghanistan is far from peaceful, but thanks to them the world has been able to have the testimony of these women, which do not want to give their identity for fear of possible reprisals.
Nilopar abandoned Kabul on a Spanish airplane gave them a thread of light to these women, so, on August 22, one of the players contacted Alejandro through social networks asking for help.
Both Edith and Alejandro resorted to Paloma del Río, Journalist of TVE, who helped them by sending all the documentation of the 13 players to the Ministry of Sports.
On the other hand, Edith sent a list with all the information of athletes to a contact at the highest level of the Ministry of Defense.
Despite all the efforts of it, the salvoconducts did not arrive.
The desperate dare, despite the difficulties of mobility, going to the airport and waiting to be able to take a plane and, luckily, left the place minutes before the attacks.
In fact, the last one that left it did twenty minutes before the first explosion.
Several had to go back to their homes after being injured or not being able to continue because of their physical state.
One of them confesses the terror that lived: “On Wednesday the Taliban began to shoot people and passed over me, stepping on me, I can not move my legs and my whole body was paralyzed. My brother and I decided not to be
We could stay more time at the airport, so they helped me go home with a lot of difficulty. ”
Another, who lost his brother and is in a wheelchair because of a bomb released by the Taliban a few years ago, he has not even dared to leave his home: “I tried to leave a couple of times to go to
Airport. ‘You, what are you doing?’
I have told me the Taliban. They made fun of my disability and they told me that if they left they would kill me. ”
The other option they have is to flee to Pakistan or Iran, but all agree that it is not viable for them, because of the impossibility of displacement, since many would need wheelchairs or an external help, and for the lack of guarantees as soon as their
Wellness in these countries.
In fact, one of the players has come to ensure that there are human beings there.
“If Spain does not save me, my life will be ruined because I have no other way out of Afghanistan, I am disabled, I can not cross any border for my media,” she explains one of them.
All of them demand the international community to save them, as did so with the feminine soccer team, because none has hope in their future living in Afghanistan.
“I ask the international community that, please, do not leave us alone, we need your help. That they do not allow our desires to be destroyed. Let us take us to a safe country and allow us to continue with our education, with our sports activity.
I want to stay here and die, “reclaims one of the players.
There are no short news about whether they will leave again to Afghans from the country, but the thirteen players coincide in the plea that “do not forget” them and put their hope in Spain to live again.
