Former Olympian Friba Rezayee terrified for new Afghan regime

Former Olympian Friba Rezayee who represented Afghanistan in judo at the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens supports female judo athletes back in her home country through her charity. Rezayee, who came to Canada in 2011, is the founder and executive director of Women Leaders of Tomorrow, a local non-profit that advocates for women's rights and education in Afghanistan.

When Vancouverite Friba Rezayee manages to get through to her loved ones in Afghanistan, she says she can hear through the phone the chilling screams of people in the city's streets punctuated by the constant pop of gunfire and the whir of military helicopters.

"They are begging for their safety, for their lives," said Rezayee, whose family is caught in Kabul.

Rezayee and many other Afghans abroad watched in horror after the Taliban swept into the capital city early Sunday morning. The government had collapsed, and embattled president Ashraf Ghani was among the mass exodus of citizens and foreigners out of the country.

The Canadian government shut down its embassy in Kabul, suspended diplomatic relations and urged Canadians currently in Afghanistan to leave immediately.

It was a dark end to a costly two-decade U.S.-led campaign to remake the country.

"My heart is bleeding, and my mind cannot comprehend the fact that the world let this happen," said Rezayee, a refugee who came to Canada in 2011 and the founder and executive director of Women Leaders of Tomorrow, a local non-profit that advocates for women's rights and education in Afghanistan.

Right now, she is terrified for them.

"They will be severely punished for playing sport, for practicing judo. Taliban will punish them, from lashing them to the death penalty," said Rezayee.

"It's a very dark regime. It's beyond one's imagination."