Afghanistan's Paralympic athletes stay positive amid uncertain future

After his final try at National Stadium in Tokyo, after finishing in last place, Hossain Rasouli flashed a thumbs up and a smile.

The 26-year-old sprinter, built thin with a mop of black hair and faint beard, wasn't supposed to compete in the long jump at the Paralympics. He had qualified for the 100 meters but arrived in Japan too late.

Officials made an exception, allowing him to enter an alternate event of his choosing, for good reason: Rasouli and the only other member of the Afghanistan team were trapped in Kabul with the airport mobbed and no commercial flights leaving the country.

Only a last-minute evacuation effort by multiple individuals and governments succeeded in getting Rasouli and teammate Zakia Khudadadi to Paris and then Tokyo last weekend. US jumper Roderick Townsend was startled to see Rasouli's name on the updated start sheet.

"With everything going on right now," Townsend said, "I couldn't help but feel joy for him."

Eager to hold off a media crush, officials announced there would be no pregame news conference or post-event interview. Rasouli, who lost his lower left arm to a mine explosion, issued a brief statement saying it was "a dream to participate" and he would try his best in an unfamiliar event. A spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee added: "I know it's a great story, but we don't have to focus on them for the rest of the Games."

It wasn't just Rasouli and Khudadadi. Each day has brought more news from Kabul and yet another military veteran competing in Tokyo, so many limbs lost to improvised explosive devices. As the Paralympics draw to a close this weekend, the connections to Afghanistan have been unavoidable.

It was mid-July when the secretary-general of the United Nations made a customary, if often overlooked, statement that precedes every Olympics and Paralympics.

"The Olympic truce is a traditional call to silence the guns while the Games proceed," Antonio Guterres said. "People and nations can build on this temporary respite to establish lasting cease-fires and find paths toward sustainable peace."

His request held through the Summer Games, where five Afghan athletes competed without fanfare, but fell by the wayside shortly after.

With the deadline for US troop withdrawal approaching, Afghanistan's president fled to the United Arab Emirates and US staff left the embassy by helicopter. Evacuations from Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul soon grew frenzied.

On August 21, three days before the Paralympics, Rasouli and Khudadadi had no way to reach Japan and withdrew from competition. The announcement "broke the hearts of all involved … and left both athletes devastated," International Paralympic Committee president Andrew Parsons said in a statement.

After consulting with the UN refugee agency, officials decided to have a volunteer carry the red, green and black Afghan flag in the opening ceremony. The start of play brought news both good and bad.

With outside help, Rasouli and Khudadadi made their way into the crowded airport and were taken to France. They were safe, IPC spokesman Craig Spence said, but had endured "a very traumatic process and they are undergoing counseling and psychological health tests."

Then, on August 26, explosions rocked the perimeter of the airport in Kabul, killing 13 American service members and scores of Afghans. Rasouli and Khudadadi boarded a plane for Tokyo the next evening.

Officials greeted them at Haneda Airport in what was described as an "extremely emotional" meeting with "lots of tears from everyone in the room."

The head of the small Afghanistan team issued a statement: "I strongly believe that, through the Paralympic movement and the Paralympic Games, we all can deliver the positive message that peaceful co-existence is best for humanity."