While the Taliban ban on female athletes continues, the Taliban-run sports department reported on Saturday that Afghan athletes have won 92 medals in international competitions over the past year
In the three years since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, women and girls have been prohibited from engaging in any athletic activities.
In a recent move, Taliban also banned mixed martial arts (MMA) in Afghanistan.
At a press conference in Kabul on Saturday, Ahmadullah Wasiq, head of the Taliban-run Physical Education and Sports Department, stated that in the past year, Afghan athletes have secured 22 gold, 30 silver and 40 bronze medals.
He added that 4,000 competitions, ranging from informal to official events, had been held within the country during the same period.
According to data from the department, 191 of those events were organized across 35 different sports federations.
When asked about the continued ban on women’s sports, Wasiq provided a vague response, saying they were planning parks exclusively for women so that they would participate in sports activities.
Wasiq also confirmed the ban on MMA but did not provide further details on the reasons behind the decision.
This comes as many athletes from Afghanistan, particularly women who left the country, have continued to compete internationally, representing other nations or refugee teams. One notable example is Zakia Khudadadi, an Afghan Paralympian who won a medal for the Refugee Team at the Paris Paralympics.
