Their mothers were calling frantically to know their children were safe.
Inside the airport, as the panic set in, the girls - some of them as young as 16 - disguised in long dresses and face masks to try to avoid detection, had become separated from their families.
Some had managed to hold close to a brother or sister. Ten others were left entirely alone.
The Taliban had taken Kabul in little more than a day after a final insurgency that effectively ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan as US forces scrambled through a demoralising evacuation of the country and thousands of civilians and allies facing certain danger and death under Taliban rule desperately fled their homes.
"We were just trying to hide ourselves," Mursal Sadat, the national women's football team defender said, "When we were at the airport - there was too much of a crowd. Everyone was just rushing to save their lives; it didn't matter if they had visas or not. They just wanted to get out of Afghanistan."
As the Taliban retook the country in the weeks and months leading up to August 2021, the team began to fear for their lives.
"You're sitting at home and you don't expect that they can take the capital in a day," Ms Sadat said, "And then, all of a sudden, you receive a call that they have taken the country and you have to hide and bury all your trophies and clothes; burn them or give them away.
"If they find it, if they search your house, you will be in danger.
"But our photos were all over the media. We were national players. We played in international games."
For Mursal and her team, there was nowhere to hide.
They made it through the airport, dreading the danger and panic of the crowd, dreading the moment they might be recognised. But worse, dreading the moment they would have to tell their families they could come back for them.
"When we got into the airport, our families were calling, asking if we were safe," Ms Sadat said, "'Mum, we are inside, we are safe, but we can't get you in. What is going to happen?'
"They said, 'Your life is more valuable for us than our own'.
The Afghani Women's football team has been harboured in Australia for the past two years, and in that time, the players have been advocating for their families' safety and their right to play their sport. They send money home when they can, and hope that for those still in Afghanistan, and those who fled to neighbouring countries after the war, that they are safe.
Some of the team have suffered from anxiety and depression after the trauma of their escape. Being isolated from home and having, in Ms Sadat's words, to become adults effectively overnight has taken its toll. But their determination to speak out for the good of their home has been undeniable.
They want to see their families again. They want to know they are ok. And they want to play football for their country.
"We are still trying to represent Afghanistan, even though FIFA will not allow us to do that," Ms Sadat said. "Of all the national teams, we are the only women's team who are not allowed to represent our country and raise the flag and the voices of millions of people back there."
"What our team is doing is advocating for all women back home who don't have the right education or work or anything.
FIFA has argued that the team cannot play until the Afghanistan Football Federation, which is under the control of the Taliban who in turn have banned female athletes from sport, are the only organisation that can certify the national team to play.
The players, who were in the Hunter on Saturday during a brief stopover at the Newcastle Airport on their way to Queensland for holiday, have petitioned FIFA to allow them to represent their country.
"Australian people are really supportive and I cannot say enough how grateful we are for being in such a great country," Ms Sadat said, "When we were in Afghanistan, we did not have the right to play; now we are in Australia and if it is going to be the same, there has been no difference."
