“Waiting for Taliban to Come and Kill Me” Says Afghanistan’s First Female Mayor Zarifa Ghafari

The first female mayor in Afghanistan is waiting at her home for the Taliban to come and kill her and her family.

“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, the mayor of Maidan Shar, told the British newspaper i.

She added, “I can't leave my family. And anyway, where would I go?”

In 2018, she was awarded the International Women of Courage Award by the Trump administration. At the award ceremony, she had said the Afghan women are always worried for their future as they could never forget the atrocities of the Taliban regime.

British novelist Elif Shafak posted on Twitter “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.”

Posing her faith in the younger generation, Ghafari had said “Younger people are aware of what's happening. 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.”