对于习惯爬山的女孩和年轻女性来说身体健康每周训练六次，被限制在北部机场附近拥挤的婚礼大厅里阿富汗是一种不同的挑战——和他们的生死攸关。
这是他们中几十人加入Ascend的新现实，Ascend是一个教阿富汗妇女和女孩以运动为基础的领导技能的组织。他们10天前来到马扎里沙里夫机场进行疏散飞行塔利班已经封锁了加剧了他们的恐惧，他们会被落在后面。
“我们试图提醒他们我们没有忘记你。世界没有忘记你，”Ascend创始人兼执行董事玛丽娜·莱格里告诉美国广播公司新闻。“但其中一些人正在失去希望。”
这是自20世纪60年代以来第一架飞离喀布尔的客机塔利班夺取的权力周四起飞载着一些美国公民和其他西方人，对仍在阿富汗的处境危险的阿富汗人来说，生死攸关的问题迫在眉睫，尤其是像Ascend这样的女性，她们在过去20年里摆脱了塔利班的统治，实现了独立。
Ascend成立于2014年，是一家总部位于美国的非营利组织，在阿富汗开展业务，每年招募一批15-24岁的阿富汗女孩和年轻女性参加为期两年的登山项目。这些新兵在上届塔利班政府用于公开惩罚的加扎体育场接受训练，他们的使命是培养领导能力、志愿精神以及下一代的身心健康。
但是如果马扎里沙里夫的组织被抛在后面，莱格里担心他们会嫁给塔利班战士，或者更糟。
马扎里沙里夫对峙
一个多星期以来，塔利班至少不允许六次包机从阿富汗北部的马扎里沙里夫国际机场离开，称一些撤离者没有离开的适当文件。对于一些乘客来说，包括Ascend的女性在内，这种对峙变得非常可怕。
莱格里在那不勒斯接受美国广播公司新闻采访，她试图让国务院和其他人帮忙，她说，她的团队从喀布尔出发，没有家人陪同，因为他们知道几天前他们就会被疏散。他们向她讲述了浴室变得“恶心”和难以入睡的原因。
“在这种环境下，我看到十几岁的女孩与家人分离，塔利班和男人无处不在。这是不受控制的，一点也不舒服，”她说。
许多隶属于扬升的女性出生在或太年轻，以至于不记得上一次扬升是什么时候塔利班统治着阿富汗-当妇女被禁止上学，被迫穿着无所不包的罩袍，外出时由男性亲属陪同。习惯了独立，80%的Ascend毕业生继续接受高等教育，他们担心自己在塔利班新的“看守政府”下的未来，到目前为止，新政府包括没有女性掌权。
莱格里指责美国承诺疏散处境危险的阿富汗人但是错过了“宝贵的时间”，因为塔利班变得更加有组织。
“如果我们不能做点什么，这是一大群处于危险中的妇女将被留下来屠杀——我对我的政府如此软弱的反应感到震惊，”莱格里说。
“我们已经给了你这些人的所有细节，你清除了他们，叫他们来，现在你说，‘你必须有旅行证件，如果你有，不要担心，你可以走了’?这是对责任的彻底放弃，这只是——这在道德上令人反感，”她补充道。
她说，至少有1000人试图乘坐这些包机飞离马扎尔-谢里夫，其中包括至少19名美国公民和两名绿卡持有者。她被告知塔利班人已经多次进入拘留设施，并带走了一些人，但她接触的人不知道为什么。
所以现在，他们在等待。
美国国务院发言人内德·普莱斯周四表示，拜登政府正在尽一切努力让飞机起飞，包括通过特使扎勒迈·哈利勒扎德和美国驻多哈新代表团与塔利班进行私下会谈。
“美国已经竭尽全力为这些包机离开马扎尔提供便利。当然，包机没有从马扎尔起飞——我可以告诉你，这与美国政府的任何不作为或行动无关，我们很清楚，我们希望看到塔利班允许那些表示希望以这种方式离开的人这样做，”他说。
美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯周三也表示，宪章马扎里沙里夫的航班“需要转移”，但如果没有地面人员和控制下的机场，美国能完成的任务是“有限的”。他说，他的理解是，塔利班反对将持有有效旅行证件的乘客和没有有效旅行证件的乘客结合在一起的航班。
勒格雷说这还不够。
她说:“对我来说，看着布林肯说的话真的是很难的一天，因为我的希望很高，因为他在多哈，他很容易向卡塔尔施压，就是向塔利班施压，让我们离开——但这没有发生。”。
虽然Ascend已经成功疏散了56名工作人员和阿富汗人，但LeGree说，在要求疏散的88人全部撤离之前，很难入睡。
尽管困难重重，Ascend计划在阿富汗局势平静下来。仍有约150名与该计划有关联的女性和校友留下来，并表示希望继续他们的使命。今年，Ascend搬进了一个新的设施，周三，LeGree支付了房东的租金，因为他为他们保留了这栋建筑，尽管她不确定自己是否能回到她同样热爱的国家。
“不要以为我们要关门了。这完全相反，”勒格雷说。“我们需要让光继续照耀阿富汗女孩和妇女。塔利班现在已经用武力夺取了政权，但是他们必须治理国家。让我们和他们在一起。”
美国女性徒步支持
当威斯康辛州麦迪逊市的贾娜·库克和丹妮尔·杰夫科得知Ascend有女性时仍然被困在阿富汗希望撤离，他们感受到了来自美国的参与的召唤
库克说:“他们的故事触动了我们的心，为我们击中了要害，因为我们是女人，我们是母亲，我们一起攀登。“这些女孩在山上如此明显地拥有的自由、成就和领导力非常有关系，看到她们面临眼前的危机，我们知道我们必须做点什么。”
受英国一年一度的50K比赛Ascend的启发，库克和杰夫科为一个姐妹50K制定了计划，然后将比赛提前两周，因为搭载Ascend成员的包机仍然停飞。她说，妇女们用胶带把沿途女孩的照片粘起来，以便把她们的意图记在心里。
两人继续鼓励其他人向Ascend捐款安置基金或者给他们选出的代表打电话。
“我们想确保人们知道这不是一个封闭的问题，”库克说。“那里仍然有人迫切需要我们的帮助。”
Afghan girls in climbing group wait and hope, desperate to escape Taliban rule
For girls and young women accustomed to mountain climbing andphysical fitnesstraining six times a week, being confined in a crowded wedding hall near an airport in northernAfghanistanis a different kind of challenge -- one with theirvery fates at stake.
It's the new reality for dozens of them affiliated with Ascend, an organization that teaches Afghan women and girls athletic-based leadership skills. They came to the airport in Mazar-e-Sharif 10 days ago for evacuation flights theTaliban have blocked, heightening their fears they'll be left behind.
"We're trying to remind them we haven't forgotten you. The world hasn't forgotten you," Marina LeGree, founder and executive director of Ascend told ABC News. "But some of them are losing hope."
While the first passenger flight out of Kabul since theTalibanseized powertook off on Thursday, carrying some U.S. citizens and other Westerners on board, life-and-death concerns loom for at-risk Afghans still in the country, especially for women like those of Ascend who have exercised independence in the last 20 years, free from Taliban rule.
Founded in 2014, Ascend is a U.S.-based nonprofit operating in Afghanistan that recruits a new group of Afghan girls and young women aged 15-24 each year to embark on a two-year mountaineering program. The recruits -- who have trained in Ghaza Stadium, used by the last Taliban government for public punishment -- have a mission of fostering leadership, volunteerism, and physical and mental well-being for the next generation.
But if the group in Mazar-e-Sharif is left behind, LeGree fears they'll be married off to Taliban fighters -- or worse.
Standoff at Mazar-e-Sharif
For over a week now, the Taliban have not permitted at leastsix chartered flightsto leave from Mazar-e-Sharif International Airport in northern Afghanistan, saying some evacuees do not have the proper documents to depart. The standoff is turning dire for some passengers, including the women of Ascend.
LeGree, speaking to ABC News from Naples where she's trying to get the State Department and others to help, said her group traveled from Kabul without their families with the understanding they'd be evacuated days ago. They've recounted to her since how the bathrooms are getting "disgusting" and it's difficult to sleep.
"I've got teenage girls separated from their families in this kind of environment with the Taliban and men all over the place. It's uncontrolled, and it's not comfortable at all," she said.
Many women affiliated with Ascend were born before or were too young to remember the last time theTaliban ruled in Afghanistan-- when women were barred from attending school, forced to wear all-encompassing burqas and be accompanied by a male relative whenever they went outside. Accustomed to their independence, with 80% of Ascend graduates going on to higher education, they fear for their future under the Taliban's new "caretaker government -- which, so far, includesno women in power.
LeGree blamed the U.S. for promising toevacuate at-risk Afghansbut missing out on "precious time" as the Taliban has gotten more organized.
"This is a whole bunch of women at risk about to be left to the slaughter if we can't do something -- I'm horrified that my government had such a weak response," LeGree said.
"We've given you all the details of these people and you cleared them and call them to come, and now you're saying, 'You have to have travel documents and don't worry if you do, you get to go'? That's a complete abdication of responsibility, and it's just -- it's morally repugnant," she added.
There are at least 1,000 people trying to fly out of Mazar-e-Sherif on these chartered flights, she said, including at least 19 U.S. citizens and two green card holders. She's been told the Taliban have come inside the holding facility several times and taken people out, but those she's in contact with aren't sure why.
So for now, they wait.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Thursday the Biden administration was doing all it can to get the planes off the ground, including engaging in private talks with the Taliban through special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and the new U.S. mission in Doha.
"The United States has pulled every lever available to us to facilitate the departure of these chartered flights from Mazar. The chartered flights, of course, have not taken off from Mazar -- I can tell you that has nothing to do with any inaction or action by the part of the United States government, and we were clear that we want to see the Taliban permit those who have expressed a desire to leave in this way to do so," he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said Wednesday the charterflights in Mazar-e-Sharif"need to move" but that there are "limits" to what the U.S. can accomplish without personnel on the ground and without an airport under their control. He said it was his understanding the Taliban have objected to flights that combine passengers who have valid travel documents and those who do not.
LeGree said that's not sufficient.
"It was really hard day for me watching what Blinken said, because my hopes were high, because he was in Doha, that it would be easy for him to press upon the Qatari is to press upon the Taliban to just let us go -- and it didn't happen," she said.
While Ascend has successfully seen the evacuations of 56 staffers and Afghans, LeGree said it will be hard to sleep until all 88 who asked to be evacuated are out.
Despite the hardship, Ascend plans to continue operating in some capacity when thesituation in Afghanistancalms down. There are still some 150 women and alumni affiliated with the program who are staying behind and have expressed hope in continuing their mission. Ascend moved into a new facility this year, and LeGree paid the landlord rent on Wednesday as he holds the building for them, though she isn't sure if she, herself, will be able to return to the country she also loves.
"Don't assume that we're closing up the shop. It's quite the opposite," LeGree said. "We need to keep the light shining on Afghan girls and women. Taliban have bullied their way into power now, but they have to govern. Let's be in there with them."
US women hike in support
When Jahna Cook and Danielle Jefko of Madison, Wisconsin, learned that Ascend had womenstill stuck in Afghanistanhoping to evacuate, they felt a calling to get involved from the U.S.
"Their stories pulled on our hearts and hit home for us because we're women, we're moms and we climb together," Cook said. "The freedom and accomplishment and leadership these girls so clearly have on the mountain was so relatable, and to see them facing the crisis at hand, we knew we had to do something."
Inspired by an annual 50K race Ascend puts on in the U.K., Cook and Jefko made plans for a sister 50K, before moving the race up by two weeks as the chartered planes carrying Ascend members remained grounded. The women taped up photos of the girls along their route, she said, to keep their intent at top of mind.
The two are continuing to encourage others to donate to Ascend'sresettlement fundor call their elected representatives.
"We want to make sure people know this is not a closed issue," Cook said. "There are still people there that desperately need our help."
