The first female mayor in an Afghan city and a defender of women's rights is shocking, saying she is waiting for the Taliban to come and kill her, after regaining control of the country by the Islamist organization.
Zarifa Gafari, 27, is the mayor of Maidan Sarh. She is the youngest mayor in Afghanistan, became the first woman mayor of Maidan Wardak province in 2018 and has been defending women's rights in her country for years, having her own radio show and founding a non-governmental organization focusing on women's economic empowerment. .
"I'm sitting here waiting for them to come," Gafari told Britain's iNews about the Taliban. "There is no one to help me and my family. I just sit with them and my husband. And they will come for people like me and kill me. I can not leave my family. And at the bottom of the script, where should I go? "
”I’m sitting here waiting for them to come. There's no one to help me or my family; they'll come for people like me & kill me. ” Chilling, heartwrenching words from the brave #ZarifaGhafari Afghanistan's first female mayor. Everything feels trivial next to the cries of Afghan women pic.twitter.com/KMBCUa7USE
- Elif Shafak (@Elif_Safak) August 16
The collapse of the Afghan government following the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the takeover of power by the Taliban directly threatens the safety of women in Afghanistan, especially activists, journalists and women politicians such as Gafari.
She has received many threats to her life in the past
The 27-year-old mayor was heavily attacked for her leadership in her relatively conservative province, as well as many death threats, while she survived several assassination attempts.
In November, her father, Abdul Waazi Ghafari, a colonel in the Afghan army, was assassinated in Kabul, the country's capital. Gafari attributed the fatal attack to the Taliban. "They do not want me on Maidan Sar. "That's why they killed my father," he said at the time, according to the New York Times. "I am devastated," he added. "I do not know who to rely on. But I will not stop now, even if I am being chased. I am no longer afraid to die. "
Last May, Gaffari told Time magazine that the US withdrawal from Afghanistan would not prevent her from continuing her work. "For more than 60 years, men have had every opportunity, but they have not succeeded or found solutions to the ongoing conflict. "I'm sure we as women can do better than anyone else."
Source: iefimerida.gr