EXCLUSIVE: Senator Marsha Blackburn Wants FIFA To Recognize Afghan Women's Soccer Team

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is standing up for women in Afghanistan who refuse to submit to the oppressive, discriminatory Taliban regime. And she wants FIFA, soccer's global governing body, to help her.

On Friday, Sen. Blackburn and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) sent a letter to FIFA president Gianni Infantino asking him and his organization to "take decisive action" in the fight against the Taliban's extremism. In it, she urges Infantino and FIFA to recognize an Afghani women's soccer team as the official National Team of Afghanistan. 

Such a decision, she says, would ensure that women athletes are "not erased from international competition by the Taliban's repressive regime."

"We write to urge the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) to take decisive action to formally recognize Afghan Women United as Afghanistan’s national women’s football team and to ensure that Afghan women athletes are not erased from international competition by the Taliban’s repressive regime. These players have continued to train and compete in exile despite being banned from their own country. FIFA’s support and recognition are essential to safeguard their right to play and to uphold the integrity of the sport," the letter says.

Senator Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, speaks during a Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, Oct. 5, 2021. Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Marsha Blackburn Champions Afghan Women's Soccer Team

Blackburn and Merkley continue by explaining that Afghani women have seen their rights taken from them since the takeover, yet the Afghani Women United team has refused to submit to the Tablian's discriminatory policies. 

"Since the Taliban’s takeover in 2021, women and girls in Afghanistan have been stripped of their most basic freedoms, including the right to receive an education, travel freely, and participate in sports. Yet, the Afghan women’s team, now in exile, has shown extraordinary courage and perseverance by continuing to train, compete, and represent the spirit of their nation under unimaginably difficult circumstances," the letter continues.

"FIFA’s creation of an Afghan women’s refugee squad was an important step forward, but the players’ ultimate goal is to represent Afghanistan as their national women’s football team, and that goal remains unfulfilled. FIFA’s own statutes commit the organization to upholding human rights and promoting non-discrimination in sport. Those commitments must extend to the Afghan women who have lost their federation, their home field, and their right to play. One day, these brave athletes will hopefully be able to safely return home to play free from the repression of the Taliban. Until then, FIFA should ensure that they can continue to represent the millions of Afghan women who have either been forced to flee or remain under the Taliban’s brutal rule."

This is vital work, and a rare opportunity for a sports governing body to take a stand for what is the obviously the right thing to do. Women in Afghanistan are treated like second-class citizens, because that's exactly how the Taliban views them. Somehow, this fact always seems to go unmentioned by Western feminists who cosplay in Handmaid's Tale outfits for photoshoots. But thanks to Sen. Blackburn and her efforts, FIFA has an opportunity to make a profound statement. To tell the Taliban and other extremist countries that this type of discrimination is unacceptable in the modern world. Let's hope they follow through on it.

Check out the full letter below: