Brushing aside suicide bombings and public scorn, the young women of Afghanistan’s first freestyle cycling club hope their pop-a-wheelies, bunnyhops and backflips will trailblaze a new path for future generations in this conservative Muslim nation.
Fifteen women, mainly teenagers, are among 50 members of the small Kabul club, established two months ago to help keep young Afghans away from drugs, petty crime and violence, reports Reuters.
“Most of the time people are harassing us because they see girls cycling as a bad thing,” said Zahra Ronna, 18, wearing a black Nike hat on her red and white bicycle.
Under the Taliban in the 1990s, women in Afghanistan were banned from going to school or stepping outside their home without a male family member.
