This week’s episode of A-Leagues All Access centres on Brisbane Roar midfielder and Afghanistan international Rahmat Akbari. Watch the full episode on Thursday night at 7.30pm AEDT on KEEPUP.
Rahmat Akbari was four years old when he first met his hero.
It was a man who, under the threat of a strengthening Taliban regime, made the brave decision to flee Afghanistan in search of safety, and a new life for his wife and family.
He found refuge in Australia and, by 2005, had successfully reunited with his wife and children in Brisbane.
Rahmat was one of those children. The current Brisbane Roar star and Afghanistan international owes the person he has become today to his hero and father, Ghulam Akbari.
“He’s my hero, he’s my idol,” Rahmat says. “He came to Australia, basically had nothing, he’s worked his ass off to support us, to make a living.
“I actually can’t believe what he’s done. I’m very, very thankful of him.”
Akbari tells the story of his family’s staggering journey from Afghanistan to Australia to A-Leagues All Access. The Roar midfielder is the focal point of this week’s episode of the weekly docuseries, titled On the Rise.
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The Akbari family hails from Jaghori, a district of the Ghazni Province in Afghanistan’s central highlands.
“Life began for me in Afghanistan where I was born,” Akbari says. “Then, I migrated to Pakistan because of the war.
“I (didn’t see) my dad for the first four years of my life. My dad left (in) late 1999, just before I was born, to come here in search for a better life.”
“I’m a minority in Afghanistan called the Hazara,” explains Akbari. “That’s my heritage. They’re a minority, but they’re on the rise. They want to study, they want to do well in life.
“The Taliban don’t like (us). They target us, they target our people, but no one can really do anything. No one has the power to actually stand up to them.”
The Taliban came to power in Afghanistan in the early 1990’s, and with the rise of the oppressive regime came severe persecution of the Hazara people.
The George Washington University states that in August of 1998, prior to Akbari’s birth, the Taliban killed more than 2000 Hazaras in a matter of days. By the turn of the century the Taliban had overseen a series of mass killings, leading to thousands more Hazara deaths.
This was the imminent threat that Ghulam Akbari toiled to spare his family from.
He tells All Access of the anguish caused by leaving his family behind, and the terrifying journey that followed.
“My dad said: ‘You have to leave Afghanistan, otherwise your life is dangerous here’,” says Ghulam Akbari.
“The last thing I said to my wife (was): ‘Look after yourself, (our) kids’. And she was crying. I was really upset too.
“We come to Pakistan, then from Pakistan to Jakarta (in Indonesia). Then, we come by boat (to) Australia.”
Rahmat, his siblings and his mother remained in Pakistan until 2005, whilst Ghulam made the perilous journey to Australian shores.
“The boat (looked) broken,” he says. “Everyone said we’d die. I risked my life so much, so much.
“I come to Australia for four years. Every time I’m so upset for my family and my friends, all my relatives.
“When I had a permanent visa, I (went) back to Pakistan to get my family back. That time, I was so happy.”
Rahmat was five years old when he arrived in Australia. He’s since forged a life in football, and despite the memory of persecution which drove his family far from home, it fills the 22-year-old with pride to represent Afghanistan as an international footballer.
Akbari admits there’s an element of fear behind telling his story to A-Leagues All Access; 17 years after arriving in Australia, his homeland is back under the Taliban’s control, with its return to power putting the Hazara people in a heightened sense of danger.
The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August, 2021; since then, both the Islamic State and the Taliban have posed a growing threat to the Hazara people.
On Thursday night, Akbari pushes through his fear to share his story.
“I don’t care anymore,” he says.
“People need to speak up and let the whole world know what’s happening.”
Produced by KEEPUP Studios and JAMTV, each new episode of the docuseries will debut on Thursday at 7:30pm AEDT on 10 Play, KEEPUP.COM.AU, the KEEPUP app. It will be available on Australia’s fastest growing streaming service, Paramount+, and will then be broadcast on 10 Bold at 2:00pm AEDT on Sunday afternoons as an appetiser for the evening’s Isuzu UTE A-League Men game on the same channel.
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