Sport
Afghan women’s soccer team arrives in Pakistan
Afghanistan’s women’s soccer team has arrived in neighbouring Pakistan, the information minister in Islamabad said on Tuesday, as questions linger over the status of female athletes under Islamic Emirate rule.
“We welcome Afghanistan women football team, they arrived at Torkham Border from Afghanistan,” said Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan’s information minister, in a Tweet, adding they were received by a representative of the Pakistan Football Federation.
Chaudhry gave no details and it was not immediately clear how many players had entered the country and what their plans were.
An Islamic Emirate official last week told Australian broadcaster SBS that he did not think women would be allowed to play cricket because it was “not necessary” and would be against Islam.
“Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed,” SBS quoted the deputy head of the Islamic Emirate’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, as saying.