FREE AFGHAN WOMEN ✊🇦🇫

Photo by bgirl_talash: https://www.instagram.com/p/DNShTlVN1B-/?img_index=10

I had the privilege of spending August 2003 in Afghanistan on an Olympic mission to help the Afghan Olympic Committee (AOC) get reinstated by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after suspension during the Taliban regime.

Working with the AOC and federations we fulfilled requirements to send a team to the Athens Olympic Games: five athletes, including the first two Afghan women ever in the Olympics. 🙌

In the weeks there, I saw very few women (while attending events with thousands of... men).

In my 643 photos I counted a total of... 6 women!

There was no Taliban regime. Can't imagine now. 😢

21 years later, Afghan women are surely worse off. In the meantime, the US alone spent about $1 trillion (yes, trillion: $1,000,000,000,000) in mostly war efforts in Afghanistan. That's about $50,000 per Afghan woman alive today. 😮

[Brown University estimates the total Cost of War at $2.3 trillion, i.e., $115,000 per woman, excluding lifetime care for American veterans of this war and future interest payments on debt to fund this war.]

In the Paris Olympic Games, B-girl Manizha Talash bravely called on the world to Free Afghan Women. 💪🥇

In response, the IOC disqualified her for breaching Olympic Charter Rule 50: “No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in any Olympic sites, venues or other areas.” 😲

How many rules is the Taliban regime violating?🤔

The IOC allows AOC to participate in the Games while punishing athletes who stand up for human rights, a fundamental principle of Olympism. I fail to see the logic. 😕

Or maybe the IOC disqualified her precisely to call the world's attention to the issue?? 💡🤔

The IOC Executive Board on 6/Dec/2022 promised criteria to support Afghan women.

Has any of this been achieved? 🙏