Former wife of legendary US boxer Muhammad Ali, Khalilah Ali arrived in Afghanistan to build a stadium.
According to the state media, she was in the city “to build a sports stadium to be named ‘Pirozi’ (victory in Dari) and a sports association named after Muhammad Ali.”
Muhammad Ali himself visited Kabul in 2002, a year after the US forces overthrew the first Taliban government, visiting a girls’ school in his role as a United Nations peace ambassador.
However, now under the Taliban rule, women are banned from playing sports.
The ban on sports is part of the Taliban’s escalating campaign of restrictions that have shut down life for girls and women.
Since their takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban have banned girls from receiving education as they cannot attend middle and high school. They also ordered all Afghan women to be thrown out of universities as well.
The Taliban require women to cover their hair and faces in public and prohibit them from going to parks or gyms.
About Muhammad Ali’s ex-wife
Khalilah was married to the boxer for almost a decade from 1967-76. She also shares children with him.
Born in US, she is a martial artist, as well as an actress and author, according to her bio on Instagram.
