Ms. Kohestani thinks that Afghan officials never really supported the idea of women in sports, saying they only feigned interest because women’s sports were such grant magnets. “They would say, ‘I would never let my daughter do that,’” she said. “They treated us like sluts or something because we’re running around showing ourselves to men.”

The women’s soccer team still exists, mainly because the players are encouraged to participate by what for Afghanistan are generous cash payments: $100 a month for national team members and $50 for junior team members.

Despite that incentive, only 10 national team members out of 22 (the women play 11-a-side soccer) came out for a recent two-hour practice; their coach, a man, did not show up at all.

The team captain, Forozan Tajali, 22, took over the training session. She said security concerns, family pressure and public harassment were not the only difficulties the soccer players faced. The national team has lost more members to marriage than anything else, she said, because Afghan women are considered too old to wed after their early 20s, and their husbands typically refuse to allow them to play.

Taekwondo has been similarly hurt, Ms. Ghulami said during a recent training session here, adding, “Fortunately, I have a liberal family that does support me — and we live in Iran.”