United States celebrity Kim Kardashian funded an evacuation flight to the UK for the members of the Afghanistan women’s youth development football team.
In the early hours of Thursday morning, according to the ROKiT Foundation, at Stansted Airport, east of London, the 35 female footballers along with their families numbering a total of 130 people arrived.
The team had been in Pakistan since they escaped after the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan for a temporary 30-days visa, and if no country would have taken them, they were at risk of being sent back as soon as their asylum period expired.
However, a charter flight brought them to the UK, where they will be quarantined for ten days in a hotel due to coronavirus, after which they will begin their new lives.
The flight was funded by Kim Kadarshian, and her SKIMS brand, a representative for Kim Kardashian and also known as a star of television reality show told PA news agency of Britain.
The ROKiT Foundation’s chief executive officer Siu-Anne Gill said that she was happy by this sweet gesture of Kim Kardashian and also deeply humbled by the courage and strength these women showed. ROKiT Foundation helped the women’s football team to escape from Afghanistan after the Taliban’s takeover.
The Chief Executive Officer, Siu-Anne Gill, further added that this has inspired them and ensured that their efforts to escape the border were not wasted.
Since the takeover of the Taliban on Afghanistan from 15 August, they have banned several things in the country, and they also said the women’s football team could play under strict rules only, which included being barred from playing in public.
The other female Afghan players have fled to Portugal.
The footballers who have arrived in England have been offered help by organisations; Leeds United is also among the organisations, with Andrea Radrizzani, the owner of the Premier League football club.
In a statement, Andrea Radrizzani said that they are delighted that the Aghan Woman & Girls Development Football Team have landed safely in the UK with the help of countless efforts by a number of partners along with their families and their brave former captain Khalida Popal.
When Afghanistan was last ruled by the Taliban, the women were banned from sporting activities at that time too from 1996-2001.