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Afghan soccer star finds new world at Drew
After Taliban rule, she relishes chance to learn
by laura bruno • Gannett New Jersey • October 12, 2008

Dawn Benko / Gannett New Jersey

Shamila Kohestani, left, who has been captain of Afghanistan's first national women's soccer team, practices with her Drew University teammates.


Shamila Kohestani was denied an education in Afghanistan under the Taliban but now studies at Drew University.

(John Bell / Gannett New Jersey)



MADISON —Shamila Kohestani arrived on the Drew University campus in August with one suitcase containing a few clothes and a handful of pictures of her family.

Those were the sum of her belongings. Kohestani, a native of Kabul, Afghanistan, is used to living with few of the modern comforts that her classmates bring to college.

But Kohestani did bring a determination to work hard and make the most of a one-of-a-kind opportunity for someone who had lost five years of her formal education under the repressive Taliban regime.

Kohestani was granted a full scholarship to attend Drew, approved by Drew's President Robert Weisbuch, three weeks before students arrived on campus for the fall semester.

"All girls in Afghanistan do not have this opportunity," Kohestani said. "I want to work hard."

Before Drew stepped in, Kohestani's prospects for attending college in the United States had dimmed. The captain of Afghanistan's first national women's soccer team had returned home to Kabul after another improbable break that had her spend a year at an exclusive New Jersey boarding school.

Through Drew, a network of committed supporters and the help of U.S. Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen, R-Harding, Kohestani secured a new student visa in record time and boarded a plane in Kabul on Aug. 26. She arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport on Aug. 27, one day before student orientation at Drew.

"One of the great things about a small college is that we can do things quickly," Weisbuch said. "She's an extraordinary individual who also represents something larger -- an urge for learning against all circumstances."

The 20-year-old Kohestani looks like any other Drew student, wearing blue jeans, a white shirt, dangling earrings, some eyeliner accentuating her dark brown eyes and carrying a cell phone in her pocket. Her route to Drew, however, does not resemble that of her classmates.

Kohestani was 9 years old and a third-grader when the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan. Under the Taliban, girls no longer were allowed to attend school or be taught at all.

Kohestani and her six sisters became prisoners of their family's four-room apartment in Kabul. And her father lost his government job, forcing her sisters to sew clothes to bring some income to the family.

"You don't really want to go out because you don't want to be beaten. You hear about what happens to other people when they go out," she said.

The Kohestanis' apartment had been raided and trashed by the Taliban shortly after they took over the country. Ten soldiers carrying large machine guns broke into the four-room apartment, smashed her family's television and radio, and burned all of her family's photographs while she, her parents, six sisters and one brother huddled together in one room.

Banned from attending school and forbidden to learn even at home, Kohestani was frightened to leave her home for fear of calling attention to herself.

Kohestani craved to learn, and her older sisters acted as her tutors, teaching her math, biology and chemistry.

"It was really hard, but we survived," she said.

When the Taliban were expelled in 2002 by American-led troops, Kohestani wasted little time in reclaiming her life.

She returned to school, and four years later, she would emerge as a powerful advocate for women. With her family's support, she worked to establish women's soccer teams, banned under the Taliban. She would rise to become captain of Afghanistan's first national women's soccer team.

Kohestani loved soccer from an early age, when she played casually with her brother. It was an impossibility to pursue during the Taliban's reign, but when they were ousted, she began to inquire about playing soccer at her school.

She began to see girls playing basketball and volleyball in her country, but soccer continued to be a men's-only sport. She eventually met a coach willing to help her, and they worked to find other girls who wanted to play. Although the Taliban were no longer running the country, many families still did not want their daughters to play soccer, she said.

In 2004, Kohestani traveled to the United States to attend a soccer clinic as part of a newly created organization called the Afghan Youth Sports Exchange. She returned to Afghanistan hoping to share what she learned about the sport.

By 2006, there were 15 girls' teams in Kabul with players ranging in age from 12 to 18, playing in long sleeves, pants and head scarves. Kohestani became captain of the national team, which would play in a tournament in Pakistan.

That's when Kohestani gained international attention. That year, she and another player on the team were awarded ESPN's ESPY Arthur Ashe Courage Award.

She also was invited that year to attend the Julie Foudy Sports Leadership Academy, run by the retired captain of the U.S. Women's National Team. There she met a woman who also teaches at Blair Academy in Blairstown.

Impressed by Kohestani's enthusiasm, the teacher arranged for her to attend the academy for her final year of high school.

Kohestani was embraced by the Blair community. A friend from Blair began bringing her home on weekends and holidays, making her part of the family.

"Shamila has a real zest for everything she does," said Cathy McKay, Kohestani's "American mother." "She's also very humble about everything that's happened to her, good or bad. She's not wearing her story on her sleeve, she's just going forward."

McKay and her husband, TJ Coan, were among those from Blair who worked to get some American colleges to consider Kohestani. One college was interested, but Kohestani's supporters could not raise enough money to cover all her expenses.

Through their networking, a Drew trustee was told Kohestani's story, which then was shared with Weisbuch.

Weisbuch told the supporters to keep up their fundraising to help cover Kohestani's travel and other expenses, but Drew would cover both tuition and room and board, which costs $46,000 a year.

"It was one of the easiest calls of my life," Weisbuch said. "She represents one of many students, especially women students, who want a fuller education than often is provided in their circumstances."

Weisbuch said it was an extraordinary chance to bring someone to campus who can enlighten other students with her story, in addition to enriching her own life.

Kohestani said she's fallen in love with Drew because of its small size, professors' willingness to help her and her ability to play on Drew's women's soccer team.

She's considering pursuing an international law major. She's still learning English, and while she speaks well, she still struggles to find words, and following lectures is difficult.

She meets with a tutor every day, but she also makes time for soccer practice.