PARIS: Zakia Khudadadi has spent most of her life breaking through glass ceilings. Or rather, smashing through them with a sidekick.
The taekwondo Paralympian made history in 2021 in Tokyo, becoming the first Afghan woman to compete in an international sporting event since the Taliban took back control of her country as US and NATO troops withdrew following 20 year of war.
Originally blocked from competing following the rise of the Taliban, she was later evacuated from Afghanistan and allowed to compete for her country following a plea from the international community.
In the 2024 Paralympics, part of the wider Olympic competitions in Paris, Khudadadi said she is competing in the name of women in her country who have gradually been stripped of their rights over the past three years.
“It’s hard for me because I’d like to compete under my country’s flag,” she said. But “life for all girls and women in Afghanistan is forbidden. It’s over. Today, I’m here to win a medal in Paris for them. I want to show strength to all women and girls in Afghanistan.”
Khudadadi is competing for the Refugee Paralympic Team, while other athletes are seeking medals under Afghanistan’s flag, such as Olympic sprinter Kimia Yousofi. Yousofi’s parents fled during the Taliban’s previous rule and she was born and raised in neighboring Iran. She said she wanted to represent her country, flaws and all, and wanted to “be the voice of Afghan girls.”
For Khudadadi, she began practicing taekwondo at 11, training in secret at a gym in her hometown of Herāt because there were simply no other opportunities for women to safely practice sports. Despite a closed culture around her, Khudadadi said her family was open and would push her to be active.
Compounding her struggles to compete in Afghanistan, she said, was her disability.
Despite having “one of the largest populations per capita of persons with disabilities in the world” due to conflict, people with disabilities are often shunned and blocked from Afghan society, according to Human Rights Watch. Women are often disproportionately affected.
Born without one forearm, Khudadadi said she spent her life hiding her arm. It was only when she started competing that it began to change.
“Before I started in sports, I protected myself a lot with my arm. But little by little ... I started showing my arm, but only in the club. Only while competing,” she said.
As she began to compete, she said she felt that stigma begin to melt away. Taekwondo once again became her path to freedom, and she gained attention in 2016, when she medaled internationally for the first time.
That all changed five years later, when the Taliban made a dramatic ascent to power following the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. While preparing for Tokyo, Khudadadi was trapped in the country’s capital, Kabul.
The International Paralympic Committee originally issued a statement saying the Afghan team wouldn’t participate in the Games held in 2021 “due to the serious ongoing situation in the country.” But in a bid to compete, Khudadadi released a video pleading with the international community for help.
“Please, I urge you all, from the women around the globe, institutions for the protection of women, from all government organizations, to not let the rights of a female citizen of Afghanistan in the Paralympic movement to be taken away, so easily,” she said. “I don’t want my struggle to be in vain.”
She was evacuated to Tokyo in 2021 to compete, leaving behind her family.
By doing so, she became the first Afghan female Paralympian in nearly two decades. In 2023, she won gold at the the European Para Championships.
Following her flight from Afghanistan, she settled in Paris, but she said she aches for the mix of cultures that paints her country and the openness of the people wandering the bustling streets of Kabul.
“I hope some day I’ll be able to return to Afghanistan, to Kabul, to live life together in freedom and peace,” she said.
Thousands of miles away in Khudadadi’s hometown of Herat, 38-year-old Shah Mohammad was among throwing their support behind Khudadadi and other Afghan female athletes in Paris.
“We are happy for the Afghan women who have gone to the Olympics, but my wish is that one day women from inside Afghanistan can participate in the Games and be the voice of women from the country,” Mohammad said.
That day is unlikely any time soon.
The Taliban have cut women from much of public life and blocked girls from studying beyond the sixth grade as part of harsh measures they have imposed since 2021 despite initially promising more moderate rule. Just in January, the United Nations said the Taliban are now restricting Afghan women’s access to work, travel and health care if they are unmarried or have no male guardian.
They haven’t just banned sports for women and girls, they have intimidated and harassed those who once played.
But even before the Taliban’s return to power, women’s sports were opposed by many in the country’s deeply conservative society, seen as a violation of women’s modesty and of their role in society.
Still, the previous, Western-backed government had programs encouraging women’s sports and school clubs, leagues and national teams.
For Khudadadi, the IOC’s refugee team helped her and other athletes who have fled their countries continue their careers. The Paralympian trains long hours — eyes set on a gold medal in Paris — with deep frustration as she’s watch strides for women in her country erode, and Afghanistan once again fall out of the global spotlight.
One question simmers in Khudadadi’s mind: “Why the world has forgotten Afghan women?”
Still, for others like Mohammad Amin Sharifi, 43, watching Khudadadi and other Afghan Olympians in Paris, especially women, has been a point of pride for people like him in Afghanistan.
“Right now, we need Afghan women’s voices to be raised in any way possible and the Olympics are the best place for that,” Sharifi said from Kabul. “We are happy and proud of the women representing the Afghan people.”
First Afghan woman to compete internationally after Taliban takeover seeks Olympic gold in Paris
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First Afghan woman to compete internationally after Taliban takeover seeks Olympic gold in Paris
- Zakia Khudadadi is competing for the Refugee Paralympic Team, while other athletes are seeking medals under Afghanistan’s flag
- Khudadadi began practicing taekwondo at 11, training in secret at a gym in Herāt because there were simply no other opportunities
Ukraine’s parliament cancels session after Russia fired a new missile
- Three Ukrainian lawmakers confirmed that the parliamentary session previously scheduled was canceled
- President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures
KYIV: Ukraine’s parliament canceled a session on Friday as security was tightened after Russia deployed a new ballistic missile that threatens to escalate the nearly three-year war.
Russian troops also struck Sumy with Shahed drones overnight killing two people and injuring 12 more, the regional administration said Friday morning. The attack targeted a residential district of the city.
Ukraine’s Suspilne media, quoting Sumy regional head Volodymyr Artiukh, said the Russians used Shaheds stuffed with shrapnel elements for the first time in the region. “These weapons are used to destroy people, not to destroy objects,” said Artiukh, according to Suspilne.
Separately, Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky arrived on a visit to Kyiv. He posted a photo from Kyiv’s railway station on his X account Friday morning.
“I am interested in how the Ukrainians are coping with the bombings, how Czech projects are working on the ground and how to better target international aid in the coming months. I will discuss all of this here,” Lipavsky wrote.
Three Ukrainian lawmakers confirmed that the parliamentary session previously scheduled was canceled due to the ongoing threat of Russian missile attacks targeting government buildings in the city center.
Not only is the parliament closed, “there was also recommendation to limit the work of all commercial offices and NGOs that remain in that perimeter, and local residents were warned of the increased threat,” said lawmaker Mykyta Poturaiev, who added this is not the first time such a threat has been received.
President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office continued to work in compliance with standard security measures, a spokesperson said.
Russia on Thursday fired a new intermediate-range ballistic missile in response to Kyiv’s use of US and British longer-range missiles capable of striking deeper into Russian territory, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in an address on Thursday.
It struck a missile factory in Dnipro in central Ukraine. Putin warned that US air defense systems would be powerless to stop the new missile, which he said flies at 10 times the speed of sound and which he called Oreshnik – Russian for hazelnut tree.
The Pentagon confirmed that Russia’s missile was a new, experimental type of intermediate-range missile based on its RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental ballistic missile.
Pope Francis to visit French island of Corsica on Dec. 15, local church says
- Short visit to the island’s capital city Ajaccio will mark his 47th foreign trip since becoming pope in 2013
- Corsica’s population of some 356,000 is estimated by the Vatican as 81.% Catholic
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis will visit Corsica on Dec. 15, the local diocese said on its website on Thursday, in the first recorded trip of a pope to the French island in the Mediterranean.
The short visit to the island’s capital city Ajaccio, where Francis is expected to speak at a conference on popular religiosity across the Mediterranean region, will mark his 47th foreign trip since becoming pope in 2013.
Corsica, noted for its steep, mountainous terrain and as the birthplace of Napoleon, is the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is one of France’s poorest regions, with government statistics estimating that about 20 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.
The Vatican did not immediately confirm the local church’s announcement, but the trip is known to have been in preparation for weeks. Francis has made two prior visits to France, traveling to Strasbourg in 2014 to address the European Parliament and the Council of Europe, and to Marseilles in 2023 to attend a meeting of bishops.
But the pope, who turns 88 on Dec. 17, has never made a full state visit to France, a historic stronghold for Catholicism that is now widely secular and home to Europe’s largest Muslim and Jewish communities.
French President Emmanuel Macron invited Francis to come to Paris for the Dec. 8 reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral, but the pope will be leading a ceremony at the Vatican that day to install new Catholic cardinals.
Cardinal Francois-Xavier Bustillo, originally from Spain, has led the Catholic Church in Corsica since 2021. Francis made him a cardinal, the highest rank in the Church below pope, in 2023.
Corsica’s population of some 356,000 is estimated by the Vatican as 81.5 percent Catholic.
Francis has traveled widely around the Mediterranean over his 11-year papacy, visiting Malta, the Greek island of Lesbos and the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Record 281 aid workers killed in 2024, says UN, with 1 month left
- 280 humanitarians were killed across 33 countries during all of 2023
Geneva: A staggering 281 aid workers have been killed around the world so far this year, making 2024 the deadliest year for humanitarians, the UN aid chief said Friday.
“Humanitarian workers are being killed at an unprecedented rate, their courage and humanity being met with bullets and bombs,” said Tom Fletcher, the United Nations’ new under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator.
With more than a month left to go of 2024, the “grim milestone was reached,” he said, after 280 humanitarians were killed across 33 countries during all of 2023.
“This violence is unconscionable and devastating to aid operations,” Fletcher said.
Israel’s devastating war in Gaza was driving up the numbers, his office said, with 333 aid workers killed there — most from the UN agency supporting Palestinian refugees, UNRWA — since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attacks, which sparked the war.
“States and parties to conflict must protect humanitarians, uphold international law, prosecute those responsible, and call time on this era of impunity,” Fletcher said.
Aid workers were subject to kidnappings, injuries, harassment and arbitrary detention in a range of countries, his office said, including Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Ukraine.
The majority of deaths involve local staff working with non-governmental organizations, UN agencies and the Red Cross Red Crescent movement, Fletcher’s office said.
“Violence against humanitarian personnel is part of a broader trend of harm to civilians in conflict zones,” it warned.
“Last year, more than 33,000 civilian deaths were recorded in 14 armed conflicts — a staggering 72 percent increase from 2022.”
The UN Security Council adopted a resolution last May in response to the surging violence and threats against aid workers.
The text called for recommendations from the UN chief — set to be presented at a council meeting next week — on measures to prevent and respond to such incidents and to increase protection for humanitarian staff and accountability for abuses.
Russia says ‘derailed’ Kyiv’s war plans after uproar over test strike
- Vladimir Putin says the conflict in Ukraine had taken on a ‘global’ nature
- NATO and Ukraine will hold talks next week in Brussels over the strike
KYIV: Russia said on Friday it had scuppered Kyiv’s military objectives for 2025 just after President Vladimir Putin issued a warning to the West by test-firing a new intermediate-range missile at Ukraine.
That assessment for next year came after a Russian drone attack at night on the eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy killed two civilians and wounded a dozen more in an attack with new cluster munitions, local authorities said.
Putin announced the missile launch in a defiant address late on Thursday, saying the conflict in Ukraine had taken on a “global” nature, while hinting at strikes on Western countries.
In a meeting with military commanders, Russian defense minister Andrei Belousov said Moscow’s advance had “accelerated” in Ukraine and “ground down” Kyiv’s best units.
“We have, in fact, derailed the entire 2025 campaign,” Belousov said of the Ukrainian army in a video published by the Russian defense ministry.
The attack, which apparently targeted an aerospace manufacturing plant in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro, sparked immediate condemnation from Kyiv’s allies.
China, which has thrown its political clout behind the Kremlin, reiterated calls for “calm” and “restraint” by all parties after Russia confirmed the new missile strike.
“All parties should remain calm and exercise restraint, work to de-escalate the situation through dialogue and consultation, and create conditions for an early ceasefire,” foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular briefing.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz meanwhile, on Friday described Russia’s deployment of the medium-range missile as a “terrible escalation.”
NATO and Ukraine will hold talks next week in Brussels over the strike, according to diplomats.
Ambassadors from countries in the NATO-Ukraine Council will hold talks on Tuesday. The meeting was called by Kyiv following the Dnipro strike, officials said.
The Russian attack came after Ukraine recently fired US- and UK-supplied missiles at Russian territory for the first time, escalating already sky-high tensions over the conflict, which is nearly in its third year.
Washington said it had granted Kyiv permission to fire long-range weapons at Russian territory as a response to the Kremlin’s deployment of thousands of North Korean troops on Ukraine’s border.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for a strong response from world leaders to Russia’s use of the new missile, which he said proved Moscow “does not want peace.”
In Kyiv, Oleksandra, a 30-year-old resident working in the media, said the Russian strike was a sign of desperation within the Kremlin.
“You could have launched a missile that is less expensive and have the same result. As long as this missile does not carry a nuclear payload, there is nothing to fear about,” she said.
Russian troops have been making steady advances in eastern Ukraine for months, capturing a string of small towns and villages from overstretched Ukrainian soldiers lacking manpower and artillery.
In the city of Sumy, authorities said a Russian drone had struck a residential neighborhood. Emergency services distributed images showing rescue workers retrieving the bodies of the dead from the rubble.
Sumy lies across the border from Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops captured swathes of territory after launching a major ground offensive in August.
The head of the Sumy region, Volodymyr Artyukh, said Russia had deployed a drone with modified munitions that were equipped with shrapnel, describing the weapons as being “used to kill people, not to destroy buildings.”
Indian commandos kill 10 Maoist rebels
- More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement
- Gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency
RAIPUR, India: Indian security forces gunned down at least 10 Maoist rebels on Friday during a firefight, police said, as New Delhi steps up efforts to crush the long-running armed conflict.
More than 10,000 people have died in the decades-long insurgency waged by the Naxalite movement, who say they are fighting for the rights of marginalized Indigenous people of India’s remote and resource-rich central regions.
The gunbattle took place in a remote forested area of Chhattisgarh state, the heartland of the insurgency.
“Dead bodies of 10 Maoists have been recovered so far,” Vivekanand Sinha, chief of the state police’s anti-Maoist operations, said.
Sinha said the police recovered several automatic weapons from the rebels.
India’s home minister Amit Shah this year issued an ultimatum to the insurgents to surrender or face an “all-out assault.”
A crackdown by security forces has killed over 200 rebels this year, an overwhelming majority in Chhattisgarh, according to government data.
India has deployed tens of thousands of security personnel to battle the Maoists across the insurgent-dominated “Red Corridor,” which stretches across central, southern and eastern states but has shrunk dramatically in size.
India has pumped millions of dollars into infrastructure development in remote areas and claims to have confined the insurgency to 45 districts in 2023, down from 96 in 2010.
The conflict has seen a number of deadly attacks on government forces over the years. Twenty-two police and paramilitaries were killed in a gunbattle with the far-left guerrillas in 2021.
Sixteen commandos were also killed in the western state of Maharashtra in a bomb attack that was blamed on the Maoists in the lead-up to national elections in 2019.
