# The Girlfriends: Spotlight, E17: Tooba Stumps the Taliban

An episode of [The Girlfriends: Flight or Fight](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1695875823), 9 Mar 2026, 33 min.

Audio: https://podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/c2c81cb2-988e-4194-8382-b02e011bf37a/52d561d0-0f07-41b3-af80-b3fc00e6b38b/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=289822ba-519c-4151-be1f-b02e011e1914

When the Taliban captured Herat City in August 2021, Tooba Sarwari had just one thing on her mind: cricket. Would she ever be able to play her beloved sport again? And more pressing, would the Taliban find the evidence of her and her team mates’ sporting achievements? If they did, it would surely spell the end for them and their families. This is the story of how Tooba, and the other members of the Afghan Women’s Cricket Team, risked everything to flee Afghanistan and start a new life in Australia - with the help of some cricketing friends. And how once they were there, they began to rebuilt the team… The Girlfriends: Spotlight is produced by Novel for iHeartPodcasts. For more from Novel visit novel.audio See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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