A attorney representing the celebrated Afghan Girls Robotics Team has send a cease - and - desist letter demand that an Oklahoma woman block take she personally rescue them from the Taliban , theWashington Post reported .
In recent weeks , the Taliban , an extremist - reactionist , armed Muslim fundamentalist group that was in mogul from 1996 to 2001 , has capitalized on President Joe Biden ’s determination to end the 20 - yr U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and deplumate out all U.S. troops by the close of August . It has swiftly consolidated control of virtually the entire country , save up aU.S. garrison evacuate civiliansat the airport in Kabul andsmall sack of scattered resistancemostly put up by ex - government forces seek to avoid summary execution .
The Taliban is ill-famed for its previous turn in mightiness , which was hallmarked by brutality andharsh oppressionof women . That drew considerable business for the prophylactic of the humanity - renowned team , which is made of miss 12 - 18 who would never have been permitted to study engineering science under the Taliban ’s anterior government and became aprominent exampleof how life had change for the better for many Afghan women after their ouster .
Four members of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, as seen at Benito Juarez International Airport in Mexico City on Aug. 24, 2021, after receiving refugee status there.Photo: Pedro Pardo / AFP (Getty Images)
According to the Post , entrepreneur and Mars Explore board member Allyson Reneau order that she first meet members of the robotics squad at a space conference in DC in 2019 and continued to stay in touch . In a Today.com news report with the original clickbait - y newspaper headline “ Oklahoma mom of 11 helps rescue 10 girls on Afghanistan ’s robotics team , ” Reneau described being unable to sleep considering the girls ’ possible luck before deciding she was “ just going to fly to Qatar — like a leap of trust — and see what I can do . ” Ultimately Reneau never fly to Qatar and ended up working with a contact at the U.S. embassy in Qatar to serve secure paperwork for the squad ’s out-migration .
That Today history has sincereceived a major rewriteemphasizing that the girls “ rescued themselves , ” that the robotics squad ’s parent organisation the Digital Citizen Fund had been influence with the Katari government activity since early August , and that it was “ unclear how much [ Reneau and the embassy prole ’s ] efforts helped . ” The Post chronicle also reports that that Qatari Foreign Ministry representative Ibrahim AlHashmi read the Qatari politics straight organise the excreting with the Digital Citizen Fund , that their ambassador to Afghanistan was the one to cull the girls up , and that Qatari official had never heard from Reneau .
An Oklahoma adult female helped empty 10 girls on the Afghanistan all - girls robotics team .
" I do it … it would command some pretty powerful people , which is a piffling above my pay grade and my mesh . But I just could n’t sit on my hands and do nothing , " Allyson Reneau said.pic.twitter.com/pLjz8PioHp
— CNN This Morning with Kasie Hunt ( @CNNThisMorning)August 20 , 2021
As the Post noted , though , the Today narrative was the one that bewitch on , with praiseful coverage on CNN , anNBC affiliate in Oklahoma , innumerable aggregated station , the New York Post , and the Wall Street Journal — which went so far as to intimate Biden give her a problem in charge of the evacuation endeavor . ( Gizmodo also quotedfrom an interview Reneau gave to CNBC in mid - August . ) Reneau has also tell outlets she will continue to exploit towards rescuing other girl still in Afghanistan and raised $ 50,000 for those efforts via Facebook . Here ’s one alternative exemplar from the Post story , in which Reneau was interviewed by correct - wing talking head Glenn Beck :
She said has been inundated with requests from Afghan women since her media tour and is play with a former NASA general counsel and a Yale Law School team , and has “ an extraction team on the ground ” in Afghanistan . “ I ’m not lead to leave one behind , ” she told conservative talk - show host Glenn Beck on Tuesday . “ The one matter I ’m omit is woodworking plane . ”
Beck , who has an organization working on evacuating Christians and other religious minorities from the state , state he could supply the planes if she sustain evacuee to the tarmac .
The Afghan Girls Robotics Team is not happy about the narrative that ’s built up and would like Reneau to arrest talking to media .
“ Continuingly recycle erstwhile pictures with the Afghan Girls Robotics Team , many of whom are small fry , as validation that you had anything to do with their immensely trying and dangerous escape not only impacts the safety of the girl but it also significantly affect the guard of the member of the team who still remain in Afghanistan , ” Kim Motley , a Digital Citizen Fund board member who also serves as the squad ’s attorney , wrote in a missive to Reneau after midnight on Wednesday , according to the Post . “ It is extremely inauspicious that you would employ such a tragically ugly situation … for what appears to be your own personal addition . ”
AlHashmi , the Qatari Foreign Ministry interpreter , was even blunter . He told the Post , “ She hold the agency from the girls and she claimed credit . The media let her be a whitened savior , claiming the female child were relieve by her . ”
AlHashmi add , “ They came to global attention because of their body of work … so it should be about them and their courage and the oeuvre they have done . This should be the story that the media is focusing on , not a woman who is chiliad of mile aside who is claiming course credit . ”
Los Angeles - establish Afghan residential area organizer Arash Azizzada told the newspaper that “ family extremity of the robotics squad have been in touch with me , asking me for help with empty their extended family because the media coverage has now put them in danger and they are now fearing retribution by the Taliban . ”
Reneau was unapologetic in her reply to the Post .
“ I ’m above display board , and if you do n’t distinguish the trueness , then you have nothing else to show for it , ” she told the paper . Despite the “ backfire , ” Reneau added , “ The tending I ’ve gotten has allowed me to help other Afghan cleaning woman , so I do n’t see any rationality for me to stop . ”
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