Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/10/15/afghanistan-footballers-qatar-fifa
Qatar and FIFA have teamed up in an effort to evacuate almost 100 footballers, many of them women as well as their families, from Afghanistan following the invasion of the Taliban. The flight they left on, which held 357 passengers, was Qatar’s largest evacuation flight from Kabul out of the 8 that have been carried out. When the Taliban first ruled over Afghanistan up until 2001, women were not allowed to participate in sports, among other things. Therefore, the footballers were deemed to have been at the highest risk. This influenced the urgency of the situation considering the fact that many female footballers have been forced into hiding due to the Taliban takeover.
This is significant in displaying the distrust that many Afghans hold for the Taliban. With their takeover, huge amounts of women are being forced out of jobs and livelihoods, especially those with such a job as a footballer. However, with the support of Qatar, groups like FIFA, and other states, it is possible that a great number of people could be evacuated to pursue their dreams elsewhere. As people continue to leave, it will be interesting to see whether the Taliban ease up on any rules, or whether they continue to crackdown harder upon civilians as they have been doing so far.
This situation involves many global actors and the interactions between them. Qatar is a state working alongside the NGO of FIFA. Furthermore, Afghanistan was a state but the former government lost its sovereignty with the intrusion of the non-state actor of the Taliban, and it is uncertain what the future holds for them. Though the motives behind Qatar’s involvement aren’t exactly clear, it is likely that the solution to the collective goods problem taking place is the principle of Reciprocity, considering it is clear that FIFA stands to benefit from nearly 100 footballers being evacuated. Therefore, it is reasonable that Qatar could be gaining something in return, perhaps international recognition for a morally strong act that can detract attention away from reported human rights abuses.