Kim Kardashian West helps evacuate Afghan women soccer playersNovember 19, 2021 - 14:05 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Members of Afghanistan's women's youth development soccer team arrived in Britain early Thursday, November 18 after being flown from Pakistan with the help of a New York rabbi, a U.K. soccer club and reality TV star Kim Kardashian West, CBS reports. A plane chartered by the beauty mogul and carrying more than 30 teenage players and their families, about 130 people in all, landed at Stansted Airport near London. The Afghans will spend 10 days in coronavirus quarantine before starting new lives in Britain. English Premier League club Leeds United has offered to support the players. Andrea Radrizzani, the majority owner of Leeds United, posted a photo of Afghan team members arriving at the airport. "Proud to be part of the team to make this real," Radrizzani tweeted. Women playing sports was seen as a political act of defiance against the Taliban, and hundreds of female athletes have left Afghanistan since the group returned to power and began curbing women's education and freedoms. The team got help from the Tzedek Association, a nonprofit U.S. group that previously helped the last known member of Kabul's Jewish community leave Afghanistan. The group's founder, Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, has worked with reality TV star Kardashian West on criminal justice reform in the U.S. He reached out to her to help pay for a chartered plane to the U.K. "Maybe an hour later, after the Zoom call, I got a text message that Kim wants to fund the entire flight," Margaretten said. "I pray others will learn from your generosity & help high-risk Afghans at risk," Margaretten tweeted on Thursday. Top stories Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev arrived in Moscow on April 22 to hold talks with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Authorities said a total of 192 Azerbaijani troops were killed and 511 were wounded during Azerbaijan’s offensive. In 2023, the Azerbaijani government will increase the country’s defense budget by more than 1.1 billion manats ($650 million). The bill, published on Monday, is designed to "eliminate the shortcomings of an unreasonably broad interpretation of the key concept of "compatriot". Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. Pashinyan visits flood-hit region Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Saturday, June 8 visited the disaster area in the Lori province. €3.5 mln EU grant to support justice reforms in Armenia The European Union has paid €3.5 mln grant to Armenia within a €11mln program on Support to Justice Reforms. Yerevan reacts to Baku’s proposal to see Minsk Group abolition Alen Simonyan has declared that Armenia is taking steps aimed at concluding a peace treaty with Azerbaijan. |