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Afghan robotics team recounts escape from Kabul

10 September 2021 18:55 (UTC +04:00)

Members of the famed all-girls Afghan robotics team who faced an agonising wait before managing to escape Kabul have spoken to the BBC about their ordeal - and why they fear for the future for Afghan women.

For 17-year-old Ayda and 18-year-old Somaya, the chaotic scenes of Kabul's fall to the Taliban will forever be etched into their memory, APA reports citing BBC.

"We tried to get a visa out, but couldn't. We were trying to go to the airport for three days. But we couldn't. There were thousands of people trying," Ayda says of her harrowing escape from Afghanistan.

"We were in the streets and so many children were crying. They couldn't find their families."

On the third day, however, they managed to get on a flight organised by Qatar's government, flying to Doha alongside seven other team members, all without their families.

But even as they begin their new lives in Doha, the pair both say their minds drift back to those still in Afghanistan.