The Afghanistan team will not be able to participate in the Tokyo Paralympic Games, which begin next week in Japan, due to the situation in which their country finds itself, the International Paralympic Committee (ICC) announced on Monday.
Only two athletes were going to make up the Afghan delegation, Zakia Khudadadi and Hossain Rasouli, who would have competed in taekwondo.
Khudadadi, 23, would have been the first woman to represent Afghanistan at a Paralympic Games, but the Taliban, opposed on principle to women going to school, working or playing sports, took over Kabul on Sunday.
According to a CPI spokesman, Craig Spence, “due to the very serious situation in the country, all airports are closed and it will be impossible for them to leave for Tokyo.”
The US military tried on Monday to secure the Kabul airport so that thousands of foreign citizens and Afghans can escape.
There was no comment from the CPI on possible aid to the Afghan Paralympians. “We hope the team and its coaching staff are safe during this difficult period,” Spence said.
A week ago, on the CPI website, the head of the Afghan delegation, Arian Sadiqi, hoped that these Paralympic Games would offer an opportunity “to send a message of coexistence to humanity.”
sah / dlo / dga / gh