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Members of Afghanistan's women's youth development soccer team flew from Pakistan with the help of a New York rabbi, Leeds United and Kim Kardashian West.
Kardashian chartered a flight carrying more than 30 teenage players and their families, which landed at Stansted Airport near London to start their new lives in Britain.
"Many of those families left their houses when the Taliban took over. Their houses were burnt down," Khalida Popal, a former captain of Afghanistan's national women's team said. "Some of their family members were killed or taken by Taliban. So the danger and the stress was very high, and that's why it was very important to move fast to get them outside Afghanistan."
Australia evacuated the members of Afghanistan's national women's football team, and the youth girls' team was resettled in Portugal.
Leeds chairman Andrea Radrizzani tweeted: "First chapter written today! When I received a call asking help to rescue the youth [women's] team from Afghanistan, I didn't know even from where to start. Today they flew to UK. Proud to be part of the team to make this real. Let's dream one day they will play in Leeds United FC."
Members of the development team, managed to reach Pakistan and eventually to secure U.K. visas, but were left in limbo with no flight out of the country as the time limit on theirvisas ticked down.
The team got help from the Tzedek Association's founder, Rabbi Moshe Margaretten, who worked with Kardashian West on criminal justice reform in the U.S. reached out to her to help pay for a chartered plane.
"Maybe an hour later, after the Zoom call, I got a text message that Kim wants to fund the entire flight," Margaretten said.
Kardashian West's brand Skims had chartered the flight.