Australia hosting the Women's World Cup last year was remarkably convenient for Mursal Sadat, a resident of the host nation for roughly two years. She and her teammates were invited to tour the locker rooms at one of the stadiums hosting the tournament, something she was naturally excited about. The visit to the locker rooms was more emotional than she anticipated, though.
"I couldn't stop myself from feeling that once upon a time, I was in this locker room," she said. "There was my name, there was my jersey, there was my national flag and 'Afghanistan' written in the back of the locker room. We were able to compete and play and the stress and anxiety that we got from stepping onto the pitch, specifically when we were playing against good teams .
.. I cried a lot that day.
" Sadat was once a center back who played at the youth and senior levels for the Afghanistan women's national team but fled the country when the Taliban returned to power as U.S. troops pulled out in Aug.
2021. Women were quickly banned from most public-facing activities, including sports. Upon the advice of Khalida Popal, the founder of the women's national team who already lived in exile in Denmark for several years, female soccer players in Afghanistan deleted their social media accounts and made high-risk treks elsewhere.
Though Sadat and her teammates were not banned from actually kicking a ball around post-exile, the return of the Taliban has stripped them of their ability to represent the national team.