When the Taliban entered Kabul, the captain of the Afghan National Wheelchair Women’s Basketball Team, Nilo Farbayat, knew she had to go out.
“There are many videos of me playing basketball. I have been actively calling for women’s rights and the rights of women with disabilities,” she said. “if Taliban Knowing all this about me, I know they will kill me. “
She confessed her fears to Spanish journalists whom she had met many years ago.he Posted her story on social media, Aroused strong support and promises from Spanish officials to try to evacuate her to Spain.
On Friday, Bayat and her husband Ramesh arrived SpainAnd more than 250 Afghan evacuees who have worked in Spanish military and civilian operations for many years.
Spain has always been an entry point for Afghans and EU institutionsOn Sunday, the Spanish government stated that it also agreed to use two military bases in southern Spain to temporarily receive Afghans working for the US government until follow-up travel can be arranged.
Bayat arrived in Spain after a few days of fear. “There are thousands of people at the airport wanting to leave there and flee the Taliban,” she told the Guardian. “I have never experienced anything like this in my life.”
The wait to enter the airport lasted nine hours. They were surrounded by the Taliban, who sometimes fired into the air. “The airport is in chaos,” the 28-year-old said.
Nevertheless, the couple felt that they had no choice. “The Taliban have begun to check their identities from house to house,” said Bayat, who also works at the ICRC. “This is a disaster, 20 years of retrogression.”
During the Taliban regime, Bayat was a toddler when her home in Kabul was hit by a rocket. Her brother was killed and Bayat spent a year in the hospital after shrapnel wounded her spinal cord and burned her back.
Many years later, she played the first wheelchair basketball game and was quickly attracted. The team started participating in international competitions in 2017 and quickly became a powerful indicator of how the lives of women in the country have changed.
Under the helm of the team, Bayat became an outstanding advocate for women with disabilities. She told the Guardian in 2019: “As an Afghan woman, being disabled is almost a double curse.”
The Taliban’s seizure of power erased all this in an instant. “I am the captain of the wheelchair basketball team. I have a good job helping the disabled. I have studied law. I work hard for all of this,” she said. “Then the Taliban came and took everything away in a while.”
The dazzling events of the past few days have been interrupted from time to time by the continued attention of the families who stayed behind. “We saved our lives, but what about our family there? We are very nervous and very worried about all of them.”
She and her husband arrived in Bilbao on Saturday, where she was selected to join the city’s wheelchair basketball team. Her husband played for the Afghanistan National Men’s Wheelchair Basketball Team and also won a place in the team.
As the couple slowly began to rebuild their lives, this was a popular stepping stone. “When we were at Kabul Airport, the Taliban would not let us take our luggage,” she said. “Can you believe that we wear the same clothes for five days? We have lost everything, we have nothing.”
