Afghan sisters find new life and citizenship in Australia after fleeing Taliban

Adiba Ganji knew her life would irrevocably change if she remained in Afghanistan. As the Taliban advanced on Kabul in August 2021, she made the agonizing decision to leave her homeland.

Two years prior, at 14, Ganji had been selected to play for Afghanistan's national soccer team. Even then, cultural norms made it challenging for women to participate in sports. Under Taliban rule, she understood that opportunities for women to work, study, or compete would be severely curtailed. "I was counting the airplanes in the sky and I wanted to be in them, I wanted to just go," she recalled, watching humanitarian flights depart Kabul.

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It was a Friday afternoon. We heard that the Taliban are coming.

The prospect of freedom meant leaving her family. With a passport, ID, water, and bread, the then-16-year-old embarked on a journey that would separate her from her parents and four siblings. "It still reminds me of how I left my country," she said tearfully, recalling the moment she told her mother she was leaving for the airport. "How I left the place where I grew up, my childhood, my family."

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I was counting the airplanes in the sky and I wanted to be in them, I wanted to just go.

Ganji and her older brother were among the 4,100 people evacuated by Australia's military from Kabul between August 18 and 26, 2021. After weeks of uncertainty, they arrived in Melbourne. "When we told our family that we are in Australia, they could not believe us," Adiba said.

In Melbourne, Adiba began learning English, worked in a cafe, and moved into a house with her brother. She also joined nearly 30 former Afghan national teammates who had also fled, playing soccer for Melbourne Victory's Afghan Women's Team. Determined to reunite her family, Adiba, with the help of Victoria Legal Aid, supported her mother and four siblings in reaching Australia in 2024, three years after her own departure.

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It still reminds me of how I left my country.

"I'm really happy here with my family. And I really appreciate my sister, she helped us a lot," said her sister Arya, expressing joy at their reunion.

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How I left the place where I grew up, my childhood, my family.