'Worried' Afghanistan all-girls robotics team hopes to escape to Canada

On Monday, Gizmodo reported that Afghanistan's all-girls robotics team fear for their freedom and safety as the Taliban take over the country — and a human rights lawyer is scrambling to help them escape to Canada.

"They're worried about what tomorrow brings. They want to continue to be educated. They want to continue to be the future of Afghanistan. But it's an extremely tenuous and dangerous situation for them,' human rights lawyer Kimberley Motley told CBC on Sunday," reported Matt Novak. "Motley explained that Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had been an 'amazing supporter' of the girls, and met with them in 2018. Motley would like Canada to get the girls out of Afghanistan safely and presumably give them refugee status, something the country has promised 20,000 other vulnerable Afghans."

The Taliban famously restricts women's participation in public life, forcing them to wear full-body coverings and limiting their public interactions with men. They are also known for taking women and girls into sex trafficking.

The Afghan government has swiftly collapsed as security forces laid down their weapons and the Taliban seized provincial capitals and eventually Kabul without substantial opposition. Hundreds of civilians have swarmed Kabul's Hamid Karzai airport in desperation to escape.