Silent, that's what they want': The Afghan women's soccer team makes home in Houston

An Afghan women’s soccer team has established a home in Houston, turning participation on the field into a form of protest after fleeing Afghanistan following the U.S. withdrawal and Taliban takeover five years ago. Players arrived in Texas in urgent circumstances, with many coming alone and only with the clothes they were wearing. Sodaba Khinjani, now 28 and the team’s oldest member, described threats tied to women’s visibility in sport and said she and other players were told to go silent. She recounted receiving death threats, and later shared that her brother, who worked as an interpreter for the U.S. Army, was captured after U.S. forces left. FIFA helped the women obtain green cards, but the article says they were later handed off to overwhelmed local groups and faced barriers including lack of access to FIFA training camps and exclusion from a newly formed Afghan women’s refugee team. For two years, the group did not play soccer.