Media’s Neglect of Afghan Women’s Soccer Team Story an Example of Velvet Talibanism

Members of Afghanistan's national women’s soccer team take part in a practice session in Kabul on June 20, 2010. The current team managed to escape Afghanistan after the recent takeover by the Taliban, which forbids women and girls to play sports. Massoud Hossaini/AFP via Getty Images

Commentary

For most of us in the West, the image we instinctively associate with women under Taliban rule in Afghanistan is the animated shroud known as the burqa, the only clue to their humanity a pair of eyes behind a fabric grille. It therefore came as a surprise to me to discover that Afghanistan had a national female soccer team, formed in 2007—the U.S. presence since 2001 gave women’s sport a big boost—made up of girls age 14–16.