Women soccer players leave Afghanistan on evacuation flight

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — Afghanistan women’s national soccer team players are among a group of more than 75 people evacuated on a flight from Kabul. Global soccer players’ union FIFPRO has thanked the Australian government for making the evacuation of players, team officials and family members possible. The union has been working with governments in six countries to help more players leave Afghanistan. The union says “these young women, both as athletes and activists, have been in a position of danger.” The Afghanistan women’s team was created in 2007 when women playing sport was seen as a political act of defiance against the Taliban.