A plane carrying more than 75 Afghan female soccer players, officials and relatives under threat from the Taliban left Kabul on Tuesday, bound for Australia, the first country to offer a haven in response to pleas from a multinational network of athlete advocates and human-rights lawyers.
With many more imperiled athletes still in Afghanistan, evacuation efforts are continuing around-the-clock, with outreach to multiple countries including the United States.
But the efforts are getting more challenging by the day, according to Haley Carter, a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and former assistant coach of the Afghan women’s team.