Help female climbers in Afghanistan through Ascend Athletics

Life is changing dramatically and quickly for women in Afghanistan. Ascend has been helping and empowering Afghan women for years through climbing. They are seeking your help now - trying to get as many out of the country as they can, and continue paying salaries/providing financial support to women who may no longer be allowed to work.

The linked article has suggestions for ways to help from making donations (501c3) to contacting your representatives to expedite transport out of Afghanistan.

Please consider. Thanks.

https://www.climbing.com/places/

https://www.ascendathletics.org/

Thank you for posting this.  The current situation is so sad. Donated and hope it helps.

trailridgewrote:

Thank you for posting this.  The current situation is so sad. Donated and hope it helps.

Thank you! 

donated- bumping to keep this at the top

Bump for a good cause. I donated to the Nazarene fund yesterday.   Biden really screwed these people. 

Donated. I’ve been following this group for years, they do absolutely amazing work. 

"The Taliban will never allow you and me to exercise as a girl." 

Pretty sure people are getting killed for helping the US and they should be a priority for assistance in leaving the country. Am I missing something? Are the lives of these girls at stake? Or, just their ability to exercise, or work? 

I fully understand that the Taliban is all too trigger happy to enforce their way of life. That affects everyone not just girls who climb. 

Exactly how will a donation help anyone? Seems like a mess. And why only help these select women? Others face far worse outcomes.

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people worth helping but this is a country that refused to fight for its own freedom and liberty. That includes these women, their brothers, their neighbors. 

Joe Biden's mindless unplanned messy withdraw can't or won't be reversed. 

Wonder who everyone voted for.

Anyways, happy to help with a small donation 'cause that is what we do (and all we can do). Just wondering what you all are thinking.

Teton Climberwrote:

"The Taliban will never allow you and me to exercise as a girl." 

Pretty sure people are getting killed for helping the US and they should be a priority for assistance in leaving the country. Am I missing something? Are the lives of these girls at stake? Or, just their ability to exercise, or work? 

I fully understand that the Taliban is all too trigger happy to enforce their way of life. That affects everyone not just girls who climb. 

Exactly how will a donation help anyone? Seems like a mess. And why only help these select women? Others face far worse outcomes.

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people worth helping but this is a country that refused to fight for its own freedom and liberty. That includes these women, their brothers, their neighbors. 

Joe Biden's mindless unplanned messy withdraw can't or won't be reversed. 

Wonder who everyone voted for.

Anyways, happy to help with a small donation 'cause that is what we do (and all we can do). Just wondering what you all are thinking.

+1 

Teton Climberwrote:

"The Taliban will never allow you and me to exercise as a girl." 

Pretty sure people are getting killed for helping the US and they should be a priority for assistance in leaving the country. Am I missing something? Are the lives of these girls at stake? Or, just their ability to exercise, or work? 

I fully understand that the Taliban is all too trigger happy to enforce their way of life. That affects everyone not just girls who climb. 

Exactly how will a donation help anyone? Seems like a mess. And why only help these select women? Others face far worse outcomes.

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people worth helping but this is a country that refused to fight for its own freedom and liberty. That includes these women, their brothers, their neighbors. 

Joe Biden's mindless unplanned messy withdraw can't or won't be reversed. 

Wonder who everyone voted for.

Anyways, happy to help with a small donation 'cause that is what we do (and all we can do). Just wondering what you all are thinking.

These are good questions, political (who we voted for) points aside. I'm not sure you can make blanket statements about who in particular refused to fight for their own freedom, I'm sure some did and others didn't. I don't know how I would personally have functioned if faced with the same fear and basic survival needs.

Obviously there are many, many people who are at great risk in the current situation. People who helped the US for sure, and women in particular face huge restrictions and threat under Taliban rule, not just women climbers of course. I have a personal affinity for climbers, but I also plan to donate to local refugee groups and the mosque here in town that is collecting supplies for those who are fortunate enough to get out and relocate here.

Ascend is an organization that has a long track record of helping women. Exercise, climbing in particular, provides a sense of control, self-efficacy and independence. It can be an avenue for women to learn leadership, to trust in their own physical, mental and emotional strength, and can be a source of income (Ascend employs many women). So 'climbing' might be much more than you realize to these women. I remember when they first started years ago, and their goal was to climb a mountain. Many of these women had not even been able to leave their homes without male escort, and they undertook these expeditions at great personal risk - I was so impressed by their bravery and their stories about how the opportunity impacted them in ALL aspects of their lives. 

The donations, as I understand it, will be used for a few different things. They are trying to purchase flights out of the country (if they can even get them), manage paperwork and visas, and also to replace income that might be lost from their female staff not being allowed to work. Imagine if one day you woke up to a regime that prevented you from leaving your home and didn't allow you to work and provide for yourself and your family? Possibly these donations will help alleviate some of the pain.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts - and for bumping the thread! :)

Erika

Robert P wrote:

This is what selective memory looks like — Trump initiated this whole fucking withdrawal.

And no, it’s not just women cannot exercise. Women are not allowed to go outside without a male escort, women are not allowed to fucking READ, the list goes on. Women lose BIGLY.

Can we not turn this into a fucking pissing match for once? These are real people with real lives in a country that has known nothing but conflict for over forty years.

Biden has been in power since November, it's ok to hold him accountable for his decisions at this point. 

Fern Gullywrote:

Biden has been in power since November, it's ok to hold him accountable for his decisions at this point. 

Friendly reminder that the US has been making poor decisions in Afghanistan since you were in diapers.  

Operation Cyclone, est. 1979

‘In the late 1980s, Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto, concerned about the growing strength of the Islamist movement, told President George H. W. Bush, "You are creating a Frankenstein."

Fern Gullywrote:

Biden has been in power since November, it's ok to hold him accountable for his decisions at this point. 

It's also ok to leave politics and its baggage of finger pointing out of this conversation and either pony up to help or not. 

We can't change how we got here but may be able to change a life going forward.

Teton Climberwrote:

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people worth helping but this is a country that refused to fight for its own freedom and liberty. 

This is false.  Nearly 50,000 Afghans died fighting the Taliban.  They were trained and supported by US military.  They were taught the US model.  Ground troops with air support, drones and intelligence.  The US was still the air support and intelligence, a critical part of success.  And with only 2500 US troops, the Taliban has been kept at bay.  Not a single US death in 1.5 years with this skeleton crew.  Suddenly, they have no US intelligence or air support.  This is like a football team withdrawing 5 key players, including the quarter back and expecting them to still win.  Only this time, it's life and death. 

I'm not saying we should or should not have been there.  But the way we withdrew was horrible.  

This is much bigger than climbing these people need help now, I don't see how arguing in this thread helps, there is a politics section if you wanna debate the politics.

Teton Climberwrote:

"The Taliban will never allow you and me to exercise as a girl." 

Pretty sure people are getting killed for helping the US and they should be a priority for assistance in leaving the country. Am I missing something? Are the lives of these girls at stake? Or, just their ability to exercise, or work? 

I fully understand that the Taliban is all too trigger happy to enforce their way of life. That affects everyone not just girls who climb. 

Exactly how will a donation help anyone? Seems like a mess. And why only help these select women? Others face far worse outcomes.

I am sure there are hundreds of thousands of people worth helping but this is a country that refused to fight for its own freedom and liberty. That includes these women, their brothers, their neighbors. 

Joe Biden's mindless unplanned messy withdraw can't or won't be reversed. 

Wonder who everyone voted for.

Anyways, happy to help with a small donation 'cause that is what we do (and all we can do). Just wondering what you all are thinking.

I deployed to Iraq (08-09) and Afghanistan, (10-11) so naturally this week has been one of reflection for me. There seems to be a narrative right now of disgruntled and jaded vets, but for me I am generally at peace with my service over there. I do believe at the time I was on the right side of history and the intentions were good. For me and I think for most Aghans, it was the politicians who dropped the ball and every administration and member of Congress from Bush to Biden shares in the responsibility. Afghanistan certainly did not fail as a result of the people on the ground, to include the service men and women who served over there and those operating organizations like the above mentioned. 

I know its easy to question someone's will to fight from the safety of a keyboard in the U.S., but speaking from my experiences, which I do acknowledge were over a decade ago, the Afghans that served along us fought as hard as anyone and generally suffered on a far greater level than us. I tend to be skeptical of those who are lobbying to stay longer or send more troops, as the loudest voices tend to be from those who never served, or will never serve. 

When I saw the OP, I had a little skepticism myself and wondered some of the same, however, I took a minute to look up the organization and read about them. They seem to be doing great work and have done some great things, likewise, their intentions seem good. I am just not sure how any of that could be interpreted negatively and I commend the OP and the people bumping for trying to help out in any way that they can. I tend to agree with P Adams on this one, its kind of an easy thread, you read and donate, or you read and move along. I probably didn't need to say as much as I did myself, but did want to address, "just wondering what you all are thinking."

I am absolutely donating to this because I am trying to help anyway that I can.

We could have flown a passenger jet filled with americans into building in Afghanistan once a month for the last 20 years and it would have been less destructive and less people would have died. Putting the blame on this situation on any single president or person in power at any specific time is pointless because it has never been anything other than a disaster and the inevitable end was going to be some form of oppressive rule regardless.  The only winners in this war were private contractors, the war machine, and people like dick cheney who were given $2,000,000 bonuses from his former employer (haliburton) after we invaded (though obviously he is FAR from the only one in positions of power that had massive windfalls through war).  We all lost. 

Eventually the west will realize that "spreading democracy" is just another word for imperialism and the rest of the world knows that.  

Fern Gullywrote:

Biden has been in power since November, it's ok to hold him accountable for his decisions at this point. 

Since November? He didn’t assume office until January. The last administration didn’t even cooperate with transition until late December. 

Frank Steinwrote:

Since November? He didn’t assume office until January. The last administration didn’t even cooperate with transition until late December. 

You're right, he assumed power ~8 months ago instead of ~9, but that doesn't change the point I'm making regarding his accountability. 

Here's the correct direct link: climbing.com/places/women-c…

For myself, it's simple. I will contribute because my friend Erika asked. I respect her judgement.

As to all the rest? 

Short memories. Taliban was supported by the U.S. when Afghanistan was Russia's mess.

I have been face to face with a Taliban warlord. The only time in my life I was instantly cowed enough to drop my eyes. Not a word exchanged...just my eyes unexpectedly and inadvertently meeting that stony stare from a few feet away. 

At this point? It appears to not matter at all what the aid organizations were doing last year, or may hope to do in the future. Right now, they are all scrambling to help, however they can, they're little slice of humanity in this nightmare. I got no problem with that.

Best, Helen

Edit to add, besides, first thing I saw on their website was a happy, smiling, lady ice climber! :-)

Old lady Hwrote:

Short memories. Taliban was supported by the U.S. when Afghanistan was Russia's mess.

The Soviets completed their withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1989. From what I've read, the Taliban wasn't formed until 1992 or 1994. 

I don't think the Mujahideen fighting the Soviets were the same as the Taliban.

I don't think the US supported the Taliban, did they?