Two very different teams of athletes are travelling to Hangzhou, China, for the first Asian Games since the Taliban retook control of Afghanistan.
Atel Mashwani, a Taliban-appointed spokesman for the Afghanistan Olympic Committee, told The Associated Press that one team, sent from Afghanistan where women are currently prohibited by the Taliban from participating in sports, consists of about 130 all-male athletes who will compete in 17 different sports, including volleyball, judo, and wrestling.
According to Hafizullah Wali Rahimi, the president of the Afghanistan National Olympic Committee prior to the Taliban taking power, another team representing the country's diaspora of Afghan athletes competing under the black, red, and green flag of the elected government the Taliban overthrew in 2021 includes 17 women.
At the team's official arrival ceremony late Thursday, Rahimi, who now works from outside Afghanistan but is still acknowledged by many nations as its official representative on Olympic matters, told reporters that the athletes are there for the love of sports.
"We want to keep sports completely out of politics so that athletes can freely pursue their athletic endeavours both inside and outside of their nation," he said.
Rahimi's entourage, which included an Italian cycling team, an Australian athlete, and a volleyball team that had been practising in Iran, was all male at the welcome ceremony but Rahimi claimed the women were on their way.
An email sent to him on Friday asking for more information received no response.
On Saturday, there will be the official opening of the games.
Since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO soldiers began to withdraw after two decades of war, the Taliban have implemented severe policies despite having promised a more moderate government than during their previous tenure in power in the 1990s.
They have restricted media freedoms and banned women from the majority of public spaces, including workplaces, parks, and gyms. They have made it illegal for Afghan women to work for local and non-governmental organisations as well as for females to continue their education past the sixth grade. In April, the United Nations workforce was included to the prohibition.
The actions have sparked a harsh international backlash, deepening the nation's economic isolation and escalating a humanitarian crisis.
Rahimi claimed that since the previous Taliban rule, the previous government had made great efforts to expand women's engagement in sport, and that it had reached 20%.
Of course, we hope it returns, he added. Not just for the sport, but also since education is one of a person's fundamental rights, we hope they will once again be permitted to attend school.
