- Title: Afghan woman scales mountain peaks in hope of bringing honour to country
- Date: 29th September 2020
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (RECENT - SEPTEMBER 4, 2020) (REUTERS) 18-YEAR-OLD FATIMA SULTANI, AFGHAN FEMALE MOUNTAINEER AND MEMBER OF NATIONAL JUJITSU TEAM, WEARING HER SCARF BEFORE MOUNTAINEERING PRACTICE SULTANI TYING SHOELACES (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN FEMALE MOUNTAINEER, FATIMA SULTANI, SAYING: "I am Fatima Sultani, a mountaineer and a member of Afghanistan's HikeVentures team. I am 18 years old, and I have been a member of the national jujitsu team for almost 7 years. My friends and I came here today to practise mountaineering." VARIOUS OF SULTANI AND HER TEAMMATES CLIMBING MOUNTAIN SLOPE (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN FEMALE MOUNTAINEER, FATIMA SULTANI, SAYING: "My main goal is to show the world that Afghan women are strong and can do the most challenging work that men do. When I became aware that women from foreign countries come here to conquer the high peaks of Afghanistan, I thought, 'Why can't we, the Afghan women, conquer these peaks that are located in our own country?' With this motivation, I joined the 'HikeVentures' team to achieve my goal of conquering high mountain peaks." VARIOUS OF SULTANI AND HER TEAMMATES WALKING UP MOUNTAIN SLOPE (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN FEMALE MOUNTAINEER, FATIMA SULTANI, SAYING: "My teammates and I have conquered four mountain peaks so far. One of these peaks was Lalan, which is located in Panjshir province. The second peak was on the Hindu Kush range mountain in Salang (a district of Parwan Province), which my teammates named that peak after me (Fati Peak). The third peak was on Qurigh mountain and the last one was the Noshakh peak, which we can call (one of) the hardest climbs in the world, and the highest peak in Afghanistan, with a height of 7,492 metres (24,580 ft.)."
- Embargoed: 13th October 2020 08:45
- Keywords: Afghanistan Taliban human rights mountaineering peace talks sports women
- Location: KABUL, BADAKHSHAN, AFGHANISTAN
- City: KABUL, BADAKHSHAN, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Asia / Pacific,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA001CXVOT3B
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Eighteen-year-old Fatima Sultani gazes at the peak of a mountain near Afghanistan's capital Kabul after completing a morning climbing session, considering her next steps.
She and her team of nine young Afghan mountaineers, three of them women, are hoping to climb Afghanistan's Mir Samir mountain and after that travel to Nepal to summit the world's highest peak, Mount Everest.
"My main goal is to show the world that Afghan women are strong and can do the most challenging work that men do," she told Reuters. "When I became aware that women from foreign countries come here to conquer the high peaks of the mountains of Afghanistan, I thought...why can't we Afghan women conquer these peaks?"
Sultani has continued to climb throughout the coronavirus pandemic, in August making it to the summit of the 7,492 metres altitude Noshakh Peak, one of the hardest climbs in the world, in the Hindu Kush mountain range in northern Afghanistan.
But as the Islamist Taliban hold peace talks with the Afghan government in Doha, many fear that they may curb women's activities including in sport as they did during the 1997-2001 rule. Though the Taliban say they have changed, their public statements on women's rights have been vague and many harbour concerns.
"When I got into sports, I knew that I would face some problems in the future, for example, one of the issues is that the Taliban may forbid sport for women, but still I'm ready to face the challenge," she said.
When she's not training in the mountains, Fatima lives in Kabul with her parents, younger sister and cat. Her father told Reuters he will continue to celebrate Fatima's achievements but as a parent has lingering concerns about her safety.
"I am worried about this, (the Taliban) oppose women's sports," Abdul Wahed Sultani said. "I told Fatima that you are free to do whatever sport you want to, even mountaineering, and I will support her as much as I can."
(Production: Aziz Mohammad / Hameed Farzad / Sayed Hassib) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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