Silence on Whereabouts of Afghanistan IOC Member

Days after a plea for help via social media, Afghanistan IOC member Samira Asghari is keeping a low profile. She’s been silent following an August 18 Twitter posting seeking help evacuating female Afghan athletes, fearing for their safety under a new Taliban government.

An IOC official says to Around the Rings it regards her security with “utmost importance” and could not furnish details of her whereabouts or welfare.

Asghari, 27, was the youngest member of the IOC when she was elected in 2018, the first from her country to sit on the IOC. She attended the IOC Session in Tokyo and took part in medal ceremonies before leaving Tokyo. It is assumed that she returned to Afghanistan, but this could not be confirmed.

“Afghanistan national female athletes, coaches and their entourage need your help, we must get them out of Talibans hands... Please do something before it is too late,” Asghari wrote on Twitter this week. Her appeal was directed to the U.S. Olymic and Paralympic Committee, the National Basketball Association and the U.S. government. The posting no longer appears on her page, @samiraasghari.

So far there’s been no public response to Asghari’s call for help.

Asghari has expressed concerns about the impact a return to Taliban rule might have on women and girls activities in sport. In 1999, three years after the Taliban first took control of the government, the IOC suspended the Afghan NOC over the absence of women in the NOC leadership. The Taliban government fell in 2001 followed by the ending of IOC sanctions in time for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.

Statements from Taliban officials in the past few days have indicated that rights of women in Afghanistan will be honored under Sharia law once a new government is formed.

Five athletes from Afghanistan competed in Tokyo under the Afghan flag. An Afghan woman competed as a member of the IOC’s Refugee Team. Afghan athletes first competed at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

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