Despite a light drizzle, a smile occasionally flits across the faces of Nazima and Nazira Khairzad as the two sportswomen from Afghanistan stroll through a park in the German city of Hanau, near Frankfurt.

Nazima was a successful ski racer and mountaineer in her home country, while her sister Nazira was a goalkeeper for the women's national football team. They had to flee Afghanistan in 2021 after the Taliban came to power again, and have now been living together in Germany for nine months. Nazira initially ended up in Italy after fleeing, while her sister Nazima, who is two years older, eventually came to Germany via Pakistan.

"I am very proud of my sister, she is my role model and my best friend," Nazira tells DW. "It was a difficult time. We haven't been able to see each other for a long time, but now we're happy to be reunited."

Since August 2021, the situation for women and girls in Afghanistan has deteriorated dramatically. They are systematically oppressed and are not allowed to attend secondary school, study, work or play sports.

"I still can't believe what has happened," says Nazima. "Even before the Taliban, the situation for women was not good. Many were housewives and had to do what their parents told them. They had no life, they were just alive and weren't allowed to decide anything for themselves."

Nazima did not want to live like this. Even as a young........

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