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Afghan Rescue: The women left behind

When the Taliban swept in and seized control of Kabul in August 2021, it caused panic across the country, particularly for women who had challenged the Taliban's decades old restrictions on their rights and freedoms.

Plans were hastily drawn up to evacuate Afghanistan's high profile female footballers to Australia, Portugal, Albania and the UK. But ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Newsnight has been told that around 13 women on the UK rescue flight didn't play for the teams or top tier level claimed.

ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Newsnight has spoken to women footballers still in Afghanistan who say they are genuine players and need help to escape the country. Yasminara Khan reports on the plight of the women who were left behind.

Release date:

Duration:

16 minutes