Gritty Entrepreneur Cut Through Biden-Created Mess To Evacuate Girls On Afghan Robotics Team

An Oklahoma-based woman helped fly 10 girls from the Afghan Robotics Team out of Afghanistan and into safety to help further their education as the situation in Kabul deteriorates, putting women’s rights in danger after the Taliban takeover.

Entrepreneur and author Allyson Reneau flew to Qatar on Aug. 9 as she realized her fears that the girls in the Afghan Robotics Team, aged between 16 and 18, may not be able to pursue their passion and education once the militant group took over the country, NBC reported.

With help from a former roommate working with the U.S. Embassy in Qatar, Reneau processed the paperwork for 10 girls from the team and they have since been transported to a safe location where they will be allowed to pursue higher education.

“It’s very narrow window of opportunity. I knew that if I didn’t run through that door now – it’s now or never. Sometimes you only get one chance,” Reneau said of helping the Afghan girls get to safety, NBC reported.

While 10 girls have already been moved to safety, Reneau and other advocates from the Middle East continue to collaborate to get 25 more girls from the Afghan Robotics Teams out of the troubled country.

Two days after taking over the capital of Kabul, the Taliban promised that they will respect women’s rights but under Islamic laws. The Associated Press reported that the militant group has urged women to start getting back to work as members of the organization were seen distributing headscarves at people’s homes. However, fears for the fate of women under the extremist rule are still rife.

The first female fixed-wing Air Force navigator in Afghanistan, Niloofar Rahmani, is one of the Afghan women who doubt the Taliban will change its treatment of girls and women now that they have seized control after two decades. Rahmani said she has a “hard time believing” that the Taliban will keep their promise of respecting women’s rights, CNN reported.

She said that she grew up under the Taliban rule and witnessed her own mother being mistreated. “For a little girl, that memory never ever goes away,” Rahmani pointed out.

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is under increasing scrutiny over the chaotic pull-out of U.S. forces from Afghanistan. Some critics have questioned why the Biden administration couldn’t come up with a more orderly way of getting American citizens and Afghan allies out of the country earlier, while others pointed out his alleged lack of empathy for thousands of trapped Afghans still waiting for their turn to be evacuated.

In an interview with former White House Communications Director, George Stephanopoulos, on Wednesday, Biden said he doesn’t think the pull-out “was a failure.” He insisted that the chaos was inevitable as the U.S. abandoned the country it helped protect for the past 20 years.

The Taliban swiftly captured multiple territories in few weeks leading to the U.S. military exit. Last Sunday, the extremist group took over Kabul with little force as Afghan forces couldn’t put up a fight.

Demonstrations have been staged in cities around the world in support of Afghan civilians, and women and girls in particular Photo: AFP / Wakil KOHSAR