The two people who managed to climb and cling on the moving  C-17 US evacuation aircraft, were shown falling from the aircraft minutes later after it took off from the Kabul airport. One of them was 19 year old Zaki Anwari, a member of Afghanistan’s national junior football team, confirmed by Afghanistan's General Directorate of Physical Education and Sports.

“Zaki Anwari had a dream and wanted a better life. Anwari was one of hundreds of young people who wanted to leave the country and, in an incident, fell off an American military plane and died,” wrote the sports department.

The other person who was seen falling from the plane was a young medical doctor identified as Muhammad Fida.

The picture posted by the department,  Zaki wearing his team’s red jersey- he was No.10 and standing on a soccer field.

Zaki Anwari pic.twitter.com/Cxgz936iZ2

— The lensman! (@WhurdsDeRodan) August 20, 2021

Aref Peyman, head of media relations for the sports federation and for Afghanistan’s Olympic Committee told the nytimes that Zaki came from a low-income family in Kabul and had worked very hard to achieve his dream of being on the national soccer team while also attending school.

“He was kind and patient, but like so many of our young people he saw the arrival of the Taliban as the end of his dreams and sports opportunities,” Mr. Peyman told the nytimes. “He had no hope and wanted a better life.”

“Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends and teammates of young Afghan national team footballer Zaki Anwari, who reportedly died in a fall from a U.S. plane at Kabul airport on Monday,” says professional soccer group FIFPRO.

Our deepest condolences go out to the family, friends and teammates of young Afghan national team footballer Zaki Anwari, who reportedly died in a fall from a U.S. plane at Kabul airport on Monday. pic.twitter.com/2DgulUw1HD

— FIFPRO (@FIFPRO) August 19, 2021

Zaki was one of thousands of young Afghans who wanted to go away from the Taliban regime to pursue his dreams but he could not get a “seat” on a US evacuation plan. In desperation, hundreds of Afghans were trying to climb on the moving plane.

A video published on August 16, shows people sitting on the landing gear flap of a plane taxing for takeoff as people run alongside the aircraft. Several videos circulating on Monday showed people falling from a C-17 aircraft that had taken off from Kabul airport. Later, local reports said that several bodies had been found in locations east of the airport.

A promising footballer and a young doctor , they grew up in free Afghanistan which allowed them to dream but their dreams died with them.

Many young people in Afghanistan  who never experienced the Taliban's dark age of 5 years, are scared about what life will look like in Taliban’s rule.  Afghanistan has one of the highest proportions of young people in the world and this generation has grown up in a 20 -year window shadowed by warfare and a heavy international presence, but now faces an uncertain future and the possibility of stark change.

Also Read: Desperate to leave Afghanistan, two people fall from sky after clinging to plane