VAKHDAT, Tajikistan: For Bibikhawa Zaki, the joy of training on the football pitch is a bright spot in her complex life as an Afghan refugee in Tajikistan.
Like many Afghan refugees in the Central Asian nation, the 25-year-old aspires to begin anew in Canada, leaving behind the struggles of their current existence.
A few months before the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul in the summer of 2021, Bibikhawa and her family, like thousands of other Afghans, crossed the mountainous border into Tajikistan. Their decision was driven by threats from the Taliban, who had targeted her family.
“When we play football, I’m happy. I don’t think about the other stuff,” Bibikhawa shared, emphasizing the solace that sports provide.
Bibikhawa Zaki is part of a group of about 50 young Afghan women who train at a club established by their female compatriots in Vakhdat, located approximately half an hour from Tajikistan’s capital, Dushanbe.
While Tajikistan has been accommodating Afghan refugees since the mid-1990s, they are not permitted to reside in major cities due to the government’s concerns about potential destabilization resulting from the Taliban’s resurgence.
Although grateful for the refuge they have found in Tajikistan, most Afghan refugees aspire to relocate to Canada, which has pledged to admit 40,000 Afghans. However, the wait for a response to their applications can be lengthy.
“We’ve applied to go to Canada but we still haven’t had a reply,” Bibikhawa Zaki lamented. In the meantime, she engages in football training three times a week and dedicates time to improving her English language skills through reading.
Jawid Sharif’s family financed their journey through the sale of their house in Kabul. His daughter, Tamkin, shares a passion for football and dreams of pursuing a career in art. One of her paintings proudly hangs on their kitchen wall, depicting Ahmad Zahir, known as the “Elvis of Afghanistan.”
Bibikhawa Zaki represents the most recent wave of Afghan refugees in Tajikistan, while others have navigated the country’s bureaucratic challenges for years. Tajikistan, the poorest of the former Soviet republics in Central Asia, struggles to meet the basic needs of its own citizens, leaving Afghan refugees to fend for themselves.
Asserting their rights in Tajikistan, where freedom of expression is severely restricted, is not always straightforward. Moreover, Afghan refugees cannot rely on assistance from their embassy, which still represents the government ousted by the Taliban in 2021.
Colonel Boimakhmad Radjazoda, who leads the refugee department in the Tajik interior ministry, insists that Tajikistan is doing its utmost to support these displaced individuals. He stated, “Refugees have many of the same rights as Tajik citizens,” highlighting their access to medical care and the provision of clothing, food, and medicines.
However, many refugees find it challenging to afford the $10 monthly fee required to send their children to school, leading them to organize informal lessons among themselves.
In the midst of adversity, Afghan refugees in Tajikistan persevere, holding onto dreams of a brighter future, and striving to overcome the obstacles they face in their pursuit of stability and hope.
