One of Afghanistan’s first female mayor, Zarifa Ghafari, told i News on Sunday that she was waiting for the Taliban to "come for people like me and kill me.
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. I
can’t leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?” Ghafari told
the British newspaper.
On Sunday, the Taliban moved to take over the country's capital,
Kabul, that led to a frenzied scene of
people flooding Hamid Karzai International Airport, trying to flee.
Ghafari has been fearing for her life ever since she assumed her
position at age 26, The New York Times
reported in 2019. On her first day of work as the mayor of Maidan
Shar, a town that borders Kabul, men with sticks and rocks ran her out of her
office, and she didn't return for nine months, the Times reports. Since then,
she has survived several attempts on her life, including masked men shooting at
her car in 2020.
For
women, the Taliban taking over the government could mean the risk of flogging,
lost access to their jobs and school – or at its worse – death.
Beauty salon employees in Kabul have been painting over photos
of women on business buildings, Vice reports.
An image of a man using a paint roller to cover women's faces has been retweeted
more than 26,000 times.
When the
Taliban took control over Kabul in 1994, a women's university was closed, most women
were forced to quit their jobs, and many lost their access to
education and health care, according to an archived report from
the U.S. Department of State.
At that time, the report stated women seen in
public without a male relative or wearing a burka, a garment covering the
body from head to toe used by Muslim women, could result in violent crimes
like being raped, abducted and forced into marriage.
No
possible life’ under Taliban rule: Afghan women fear
murder, oppression after US withdrawal
Many were forced to stay inside their homes, and those who did
not have male family members who brought in financial support were at
times left to beg in the street for change, according to the report.
The Taliban rule came to an end in 2001, and thereafter
women's rights began to progress. In 2004, men and women were granted
equal rights after it was adopted into the Afghanistan constitution.
Taliban spokesperson Suhail Shaheen called into BBC News on Sunday and
said women would still be able to live their lives freely, but history calls
the claim into question.
'Were all of our sacrifices wasted?':War veterans react to
stunning Afghanistan collapse
US troops try to manage Kabul airport:7 dead as thousands
rush to flee Taliban
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