Taliban will come and kill me and others like me: Afghanistan's first female mayor Zarifa Ghafari

Zarifa Ghafari made history in 2018 by becoming Afghanistan's first female mayor. In March 2020, she was presented with the International Women of Courage Award by the Trump administration, during which she warned that Afghan women are 'always worried for the future' since they 'have not forgotten the Taliban's reign.'

New Delhi: "I'm sitting here waiting for them to come. There is no one to help me or my family. I’m just sitting with them and my husband. And they will come for people like me and kill me,” Zarifa Ghafari, Afghanistan's first and youngest female mayor, said after the militant group took complete control of the country on Sunday (August 17). As senior members of the Ashraf Ghani-led government managed to flee, a 27-year-old Zarifa Ghafari wondered, Where would I go? Zarifa Ghafari made history in 2018 by becoming Afghanistan's first female mayor. As the Taliban insurgents sweeped across Afghanistan in a matter of days and seize territory they did not already control, Ghafari today is sitting at her home, waiting for the Taliban to come and kill and others like her finally. In the past, she had received death threats from the Taliban. According to reports, her father General Abdul Wasi Ghafari was gunned down by the militants on November 15, 2020, just 20 days after the third attempt to kill her failed.