Afghan girls robotics team wins in Washington

Members of the team work with their robot in the practice area at the competition

A team of girls from Afghanistan has won a special award at an international robotics competition in Washington in the US.

The six girls were taking part in the FIRST Global Challenge competition, which took place across three days and saw 158 nations compete against each other.

They took home a silver medal for courageous achievement, which was awarded to teams "that exhibit a can-do attitude throughout the challenge, even under difficult circumstances, or when things do not go as planned".

According to the New York Times, the team's mentor Alireza Mehraban said: "We are simple people with ideas. We need a chance to make our world better. This is our chance."

Here are the girls practicing with their robot

Their story made the news because, at first, they weren't going to be allowed to go to the competition because of visa problems.

They were told twice that they weren't allowed to enter the country so wouldn't have been able to take part.

However, US President Donald Trump stepped in at the last minute and the girls were able to travel to the US and participate.

The competition - which hopes to inspire young people to want careers in science, technology, engineering, and maths - will take place in Mexico City next year.