In 2018, Samira Asghari became the first representative from Afghanistan to join the International Olympic Committee. She has a background in basketball and football and has captained Afghanistan’s national team. In this interview, Zan Times spoke with Asghari about the continued participation of women athletes in international competitions, the situation of sports teams in exile, and the prospects for women’s sports returning to Afghanistan.
Zan Times: While women are barred from sports, can Afghanistan’s continued participation in international competitions be considered a form of support for them?
Asghari: Thank you for your question. The people of Afghanistan are living in truly inhumane conditions, conditions in which human rights are not respected. Like all of us, the International Olympic Committee was caught off guard by the Taliban’s sudden return to power and the situation that followed.
After the Taliban returned, the International Olympic Committee had no more than two options. The first was to suspend Afghanistan’s representation and remove the country’s sports from the international arena, as happened during the Taliban’s previous rule. The other option was to support Afghanistan’s athletes, especially its women athletes, and allow Afghanistan’s representation in international competitions to continue.
One of the fundamental principles of the Olympics is that women and men must have access to sport. Unfortunately, this principle is not being upheld in Afghanistan. Despite these conditions, the International Olympic Committee decided not to suspend Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee and the country’s athletes. Maintaining this presence was a form of resistance against the current situation, because athletes could still represent Afghanistan on the international stage.
ZT: What steps have been taken to maintain the presence of Afghan women in international competitions?
Asghari: Despite extremely difficult conditions for Afghan women, women representatives continue to take part in international competitions. In the 2012 and 2016 Olympic Games, during the previous government, usually one or two women took part as Afghanistan’s representatives in international competitions. But at the Paris Olympic Games, after the Taliban’s return to power, both women and men athletes from Afghanistan were present in remarkable numbers.
As the International Olympic Committee member from Afghanistan, I have tried to report directly on the situation of sports federations and the problems athletes face, so that the committee can make decisions with the current situation in mind.
One of the important steps was the presence of Afghan women at the highest level of world sports competition. Having Afghanistan’s tricolour flag, the national anthem, and Afghan girls present in this arena, representing the country, was significant, and the International Olympic Committee helped make it happen.
This was what Afghanistan’s athletes themselves wanted. Olympians who were forced to leave the country after 2021 called for Afghanistan’s continued participation in the Olympic Games. Kimia Yousofi and a number of other athletes directly asked the International Olympic Committee not to ban Afghanistan from the Olympic Games as it had during the Taliban’s previous rule. They said: “The Taliban have silenced us; don’t you silence us.”
ZT: Given that athletes have left Afghanistan and are scattered across different countries, how possible has it been to maintain and rebuild national teams?
Asghari: Unfortunately, we face many problems in team sports. When I held positions at Afghanistan’s National Olympic Committee and the General Directorate of Physical Education, officials did not invest much in sports, particularly women’s team sports, and did not even take them seriously.
This problem existed before and is not solely due to the takeover of the Taliban. Even before the Taliban, organizing and supporting women’s teams was difficult. At that time, I was captain of Afghanistan’s national basketball team and experienced these problems firsthand.
Weak management and a shortage of strong, professional administrators were among our fundamental problems. We didn’t have managers who could run women’s team sports professionally. This is one of the long-standing problems of Afghan sports, and it continues to this day.
After the Taliban takeover, the problems grew. For example, the members of Afghanistan’s women’s volleyball team who left the country faced a situation in which we couldn’t get all the athletes out of Afghanistan together. The national volleyball team had 12 members, but six of them had invalid passports or faced other technical problems. For this reason, we couldn’t get all the members out of Afghanistan as one cohesive team.
Bringing back together the athletes who have left the country is also difficult, because each athlete’s living situation is different. Some athletes who left Afghanistan as members of national teams no longer wanted to continue in sport. After their sudden migration, many women athletes faced completely different circumstances: their language, culture, work, and living environment changed, and some of them drifted away from sport.
On the other hand, many women athletes who were previously on national teams are no longer ready, because of age or physical condition, to continue competing professionally. Members of a single team are also scattered across different cities and countries, each with different work and living circumstances, so bringing them back together for regular training is not easy.
Of course, among Afghans living in different countries, there are also athletes who could join these teams. This is the responsibility of the sports federations, not the International Olympic Committee and not me personally. The federations must identify athletes in different countries and see who is ready to cooperate and join the national teams. If the goal is to compete at the 2028 Games, planning for forming and preparing teams must begin now.
ZT: Are there specific conditions or restrictions on Afghan athletes playing on sports teams and competing internationally?
Asghari: I think a good example is the current Afghan women’s football team that FIFA created. When forming teams, the conditions vary depending on the sport and age category; for example, it might be an under-17 team, a youth team, or another age group.
As for Afghan athletes joining national teams, each federation must hold its own selection competitions. For example, if there are Afghan women competing in taekwondo in Europe and it isn’t possible to hold trials inside Afghanistan, the relevant federation can hold trials outside Afghanistan and assess the athletes’ level. If an athlete is at national-team level, she can represent Afghanistan.
We have examples such as the Afghan women’s volleyball team in Iran and the Afghan women’s football team. I don’t think international sports organizations will create obstacles that stop these teams from operating. Within the framework of the committee’s charter and the regulations of each federation and sport, they try to support athletes’ activities.
Of course, at the level of the Olympic Games, there are specific conditions. For example, the Olympic Refugee Team is not Afghanistan’s team; rather, athletes from various countries who meet the necessary requirements can compete at the Olympic Games under the refugee team’s flag.
Some restrictions also relate to athletes’ migration status and the laws of their countries of residence. For example, an athlete may live in a European country but be unable to take part in a particular competition because of her residency status. These issues are not necessarily restrictions specific to Afghan women and may also apply to athletes from other countries.
So if an Afghan woman athlete in Canada or Europe is at a very high level, she shouldn’t lose hope because of these issues. There is no particular barrier that applies only to Afghan women; if an Afghan athlete is at a good level, she can take advantage of the opportunities available.
ZT: Given your contacts and negotiations with Taliban officials and international sports bodies, how can we be sure that support for Afghan women’s sports is not merely symbolic?
Asghari: That’s a good question. In the political arena, the international community has abandoned Afghanistan, but international sports organizations, international federations, and continental organizations are all committed to cooperation. I have access to many of these bodies, and I can see that there is a willingness to cooperate.
But there is a big gap, and that is the weak leadership and management of sport by Afghans themselves, by which I mean sports officials inside and outside the country, sports structures, and athletes.
I have said many times that there are training camps and various resources outside Afghanistan for athletes, but these resources need to be identified and secured. We cannot wait for years for foreigners to come and provide everything for us. It is the duty of Afghanistan’s sports officials to find opportunities and make use of them.
If we have a good Afghan athlete in Iran, it is the relevant federation’s job to identify her and create the conditions for support and cooperation. International bodies are committed to cooperation, especially given Afghanistan’s membership in these organizations.
I can’t single out one federation or one individual as solely to blame. This is a system, and for things to move forward, its parts must work together. Unfortunately, this system is weak in some areas and needs strengthening.
ZT: In light of the arrest of Khadija Ahmadzada in Herat, do you still recommend that women and girls inside the country continue playing sports in secret?
Asghari: In recent months, we have seen how the Taliban’s Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has arrested and imprisoned Afghan girls and women. So I do not recommend forming underground teams or clubs.
My advice is that they exercise individually, to the extent that it is safe for women. Even if they are only able to do simple, everyday exercise, they should keep it up. Athletes should not give up sport completely and should not lose hope.
An athlete may think her time for professional sport has passed, or that she has no hope of making the national team, and ask herself: “Why, and for whom, should I exercise?” But that same athlete can keep hope in sport alive for another girl inside Afghanistan.
We outside Afghanistan have freedom and opportunities, but our hope and our efforts are for the people inside the country.
ZT: Will women’s sports return to Afghanistan? What efforts have been made so far, and how hopeful are you that they will succeed?
Asghari: The return of women’s sports in Afghanistan must ultimately happen from within the country.
At the International Olympic Committee, we have proposed to Taliban in various meetings that sport must be made accessible to Afghan women and girls, because this relates to one of the fundamental principles of the Olympic Charter.
We even proposed that if, under current conditions, girls can attend school from first to sixth grade, then at least sport should be kept active in those schools, so that girls know what basketball is, what football is, what taekwondo is, and become familiar with different sports. Depriving them of even this minimal access is a betrayal of them.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Justice sent a letter to the International Olympic Committee stating that they do not oppose women’s sports and that, in their view, women’s access to sport within the framework of Islamic Sharia is their right.
The latest response we received from Taliban officials was: “Don’t lose hope; we are pursuing this matter, and it is on our agenda.”
Our goal is for sport to become active again, at least in schools, at these young ages, so that sport as a culture does not disappear among Afghan girls.
The International Olympic Committee has also held negotiations with the Taliban since the first months of their rule, and I served as a liaison between the two sides during part of this process. These contacts and negotiations helped us follow up on Khadija’s case as well. The Taliban’s sports official initially did not know about Khadija’s arrest; it had been carried out by the Directorate for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
Nevertheless, I am upset with the current situation and aggrieved with the international community. I don’t mean the International Olympic Committee; as I explained earlier, the committee is doing its work within the scope of its responsibilities. I mean the political international community, which unfortunately has turned its back on Afghanistan.
Given Afghanistan’s current conditions, if women’s sports are to become active again, one step is to activate sport in schools and give young girls access to it. This could be a window of hope so that the voice of Afghan women’s sports is not completely silenced. We hope that Taliban officials, in keeping with the promises they have made, will pursue this from within and put it into practice.
ZT: Ms. Asghari, thank you for joining us for this interview.
Asghari: You’re welcome.
Sofia Malik is the pseudonym of a Zan Times reporter.
