Tags: afghanistan | mayor | taliban

Female Afghanistan Mayor Says Taliban Will Kill Her

Female Afghanistan Mayor Says Taliban Will Kill Her
Zarifa Ghafari of Afghanistan speaks during the annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards ceremony at the State Department in Washington, D.C., on March 4, 2020. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

By    |   Tuesday, 17 August 2021 01:31 PM EDT

One of the first female mayors in Afghanistan is "waiting" in Kabul for the Taliban to "come for people like me and kill me," as the militant group moves to take control over the country.

"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, mayor of Maidan Shar in central Afghanistan, told the British newspaper iNews. "I can't leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?"

Ghafari, who became the youngest mayor in the country in 2018 when President Ashraf Ghani appointed her to the position, took on a role in Kabul with the Defense Ministry after the Taliban began to reemerge, and was responsible for overseeing civilians and soldiers who were injured by the attacks.

The mayor told iNews three weeks ago that she still had hope for Afghanistan despite the threat of the Taliban.

"Younger people are aware of what’s happening," she said. "They have social media. They communicate. I think they will continue fighting for progress and our rights. I think there is a future for this country."

The newpaper notes that Ghafari has already faced multiple attempts on her life, and that her father, General Abdul Wasi Ghafari, was shot and killed in November of last year.

"They don't want me in Maidan Shar. That is why they killed my dad," Ghafari said at the time, according to The New York Times.

"I am so broken," she continued. "I don't know who to rely on. But I won't stop now even if they come after me again. I am not scared to die anymore."

More recently, she told Time magazine that she would not lose confidence in the country’s future even as the U.S. prepared to withdraw.

"For more than 60 years, men have had all the opportunities, but they haven't succeeded or found solutions for ongoing conflicts," Ghafari said in May. "I'm so confident that we, as women, can do better than anyone else."

Theodore Bunker

Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


GlobalTalk
One of the first female mayors in Afghanistan is "waiting" in Kabul for the Taliban to "come for people like me and kill me," as the militant group moves to take control over the country...
afghanistan, mayor, taliban
352
2021-31-17
Tuesday, 17 August 2021 01:31 PM
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