BATON ROUGE - A hundred female musicians safely left Afghanistan on Sunday, and the effort was partially organized by U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy and his staff.

Senator Cassidy said Monday afternoon that the women had fled the country and have made it to Portugal and Qatar.

The Wall Street Journal said the group, called Zohra, was a part of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music. Musical performance is now banned in Afghanistan by the newly-formed Taliban regime, so Senator Cassidy, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and the orchestra's backers worked to get the young musicians evacuated from the country.

Senator Cassidy said they are still working to fly the other 180 women safely out of the country.

For a month, my office has been involved in efforts to get a school of young musicians out of Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. With help from Qatar & Portugal, 100 made it to freedom yesterday. Working to get out the 180+ others who are still trapped.https://t.co/op0RSnUSHX

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— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) October 4, 2021