KABUL: the Taliban government has refused to recognise the three female athletes who will represent Afghanistan at the Paris Olympic Games this month, a spokesman for their sports department said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has invited a team of six Afghan athletes, three women and three men, in consultation with Afghanistan’s exiled national Olympic committee.
“Only three athletes are representing Afghanistan,” said Atal Mashwani, the spokesman of the Taliban government’s sports directorate, referring to the male members.
He said currently, sports activities for girls have been stopped. “When girls’ sport isn’t practised, how can they go on the national team?” he told Western media.
It is pertinent to mention that all three of the women and two of the male athletes taking part in the upcoming Olympics are living outside Afghanistan. The only athlete living in the country is a judo fighter, whilst his squad members will feature in athletics and swimming. The Afghan women will only compete in athletics and cycling.
The IOC said it had not consulted Taliban officials about the Olympic squad and they were not even invited to the games. Spokesman of the IOC Mark Adams last month confirmed Afghanistan’s national Olympic committee including the president and secretary-general who are in exile.
But Afghan committee CEO Dad Mohammad Payenda Akhtari, who is still in the country, said his committee coordinated with Taliban officials over the male ones but not on female athletes.
Atal Mashwani said the government was supporting the Afghan male athletes and providing them with training and scholarships. “We only take the responsibility for three male athletes participating in the Olympics,” he said.
The participants will take part in the mega event under the black, red and green flag of the old government which collapsed after the withdrawal of US troops three years ago.
Since the Taliban came back to power in 2021, they have enforced curbs squeezing women out of sports as well as secondary schools and universities. The United Nations has termed the curbs as gender apartheid.
The IOC barred Afghanistan from the games in 1999, during the first period of Taliban rule between 1996 and 2001. Afghanistan was allowed to take part in global sports events after the Taliban were ousted by the post-9/11 invasion.
