Nadia Nadim on women’s football in Afghanistan one year on from Taliban takeover
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan’s governing council in July 2009 ended the era of “pink-cheeked boys” in Afghanistan. However, Nadia Nadim, from London, UK, who was at school in Afghanistan at the time, has witnessed the transition from female dominance to female empowerment.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan’s governing council in July 2009 ended the era of “pink-cheeked boys” in Afghanistan. However, Nadia Nadim, from London, UK, who was at school in Afghanistan at the time, has witnessed the transition from female dominance to female empowerment.
We were on the first day of term, a Saturday morning, when the Taliban descended on the town, carrying AK-47s, shooting and stabbing people. It was a brutal affair, and our English teacher was taken, along with a few students, from our school by the Taliban. Our school was called Ghazi Khel, and it was only because we were Muslims that we went there, to learn about Islam. So, for us, and for the other students, we had to fight, and not only to know Islam, but to save our own religion.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan’s governing council in July 2009 ended the era of “pink-cheeked boys” in Afghanistan. However, Nadia Nadim, from London, UK, who was at school in Afghanistan at the time, has witnessed the transition from female dominance to female empowerment.
The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan’s governing council in July 2009 ended the era of “pink-cheeked boys” in Afghanistan. However, Nadia Nadim, from London, UK, who was at school in Afghanistan at the time, has witnessed the transition from female dominance to female empowerment.
Nadia Nadim, who lives with her parents and sister in a small village in the central province of Khost, in Afghanistan, where she grew up, is one of a small number