0
0
Even as the Taliban seek to assure the planet they’ve become more moderate, most of Afghanistan’s top female leaders who emerged over the past 20 years have fled or are doggo .
In recent weeks, Taliban fighters have fired shots within the air to disperse protests in Kabul and other cities by women demanding participation in government also as rights to education and jobs. a serious point for these protests are the exclusion of girls from the new cabinet unveiled last week, a step back from U.S.-backed governments that included female lawmakers and technocrats.
The Taliban have said they might respect women’s rights within the bounds of shariah , allowing them to travel to figure or school as long as they do not mix with men — an appointment that does not often add reality. The group has also sought to point out the planet they need female support, with armed fighters last weekend accompanying many fully veiled women who carried banners supporting the Taliban and saying the feminine leaders who fled Afghanistan don’t represent them.
Here are some prominent female politicians who have left Afghanistan for fear of reprisals from the Taliban or went into hiding:
Fawzia Koofi, Former Member of Parliament, 46
Koofi, who represented northern Badakshan province, was the vice chairman of Afghanistan’s National Assembly. within the months before the Taliban took Kabul, she had participated in talks with the group to urge that ladies have more say in policy decisions.
As one parent, Koofi’s advocacy of women’s issues made her unpopular with conservatives — resulting in multiple assassination attempts, including one last year. Shortlisted for for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020, Koofi left the country fortnight after the Taliban took control and is now lobbying governments to offer humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
Farid was chairwoman of the parliament’s Women Affairs Commission and has represented western Herat city since she was 27. She features a degree in diplomacy from the Washington University, and is understood for her progressive views. Last year, she drafted and successfully implemented a proposal allowing mothers’ names on birth certificates.
Farid has warned that a Taliban government without oversight by the United Nations , the U.S. and other nations are going to be a “regime of terror.” She fled the country fearing for her own safety which of her children, the BBC reported.
A medical doctor from the minority Hazara community, Samar first became a refugee when she was forced to escape to Pakistan within the 1980s. As minister for women’s affairs within the Hamid Karzai-led interim government within the early 2000s, Samar oversaw the re-entry of women into school and ladies into the workforce.
Samar survived assassination attempts during her time in office, though she resigned as minister for questioning conservative interpretations of shariah and advocating for the proper of girls to not wear a burqa — a head to toe covering that hides the whole face. She since went on to run hospitals in Afghanistan and headed the independent human rights commission. Her whereabouts are currently unknown.
Habiba Sarabi, Former Negotiator in Taliban Talks, 65
An ethnic Hazara leader and medical doctor, Sarabi was one among only four female leaders in peace negotiations before the U.S. withdrawal, during which she pushed for a greater role for ladies in Afghanistan.
Sarabi was minister for women’s affairs for 2 years starting in 2002 and therefore the first female governor of Bamyan province to the west of Kabul. She won accolades for her work on women’s rights and continues to criticize the Taliban from an undisclosed location in Afghanistan.
Shukria Barakzai, Former Ambassador to Norway, 51
Barakzai, an Afghan journalist-turned-politician who served as ambassador to Norway, fled Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power. She survived a deadly suicide-bomber attack in 2014.
An ethnic Pahstun from Kabul, Barakzai has been a top advocate for ladies rights since 2001 when the U.S. overthrew the Taliban. Just months after the regime’s fall, she founded Aina-e-Zan, or the Women’s Mirror, a national weekly magazine that focused on women’s issues.
Barakzai has participated during a Loya Jirga , a Grand National assembly that takes place to debate crucial matters. She helped pass a replacement modern constitution in 2004, an equivalent year she was elected as a lawmaker from Kabul.
Zarifa Ghafari, Former Mayor, 29
Ghafari was the youngest mayor of Maidan Shahr city just north of Kabul before she and her family fled to Germany last month. As mayor, she survived six assassination attempts — and unknown gunmen killed her father last year during a bid to force her to quit.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo gave Ghafari the International Woman of Courage award in 2020 for her bravery and resoluteness to stay women within the public space.
