After the Taliban captured the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, the country is falling into chaos. Many people want to flee and head for Kabul international airport – it is the last chance for Afghans to leave the country. Because the new rulers have already brought all border crossings under their control. In desperation, people even cling to planes taking off.
Chaos after Taliban victory: Such is the situation in Kabul(01:48)
Despite the overwhelming danger, Zarifa Ghafari (27) remains in Afghanistan. She is the youngest female mayor in the country and heads the city of Maidan Sharh in central Afghanistan. As she told the British newspaper “iNews”, she did not try to flee. The reason: there is nowhere to go!
“I’m sitting here and waiting for them to come,” the young woman told the newspaper. There is no one else who could help her or her family. “You will come to kill people like me.” The young woman has survived several Taliban attacks since her political rise. Her father was executed by the Islamists in November.
Taliban attacks survived
Zarifa was elected the country’s first female mayor in 2018. Just three weeks ago, she had made positive statements about the future of her country. «Young people know what is happening. You have social media. You communicate. I think they will continue to fight for progress and our rights, ”she said.
With the renewed rule of the Taliban, however, a lot is likely to change.
They were only allowed to leave the house wearing a burqa
According to the Swiss Middle East expert Erich Gysling (85), the rights of women and girls are likely to be severely curtailed under the rule of the Taliban. The group had promised that girls could continue to go to school, for example. “But the question arises as to which ones they are allowed to visit and what they are even allowed to learn there,” says Gysling.
Because: When the Islamist group was last in power, they were only allowed to leave the house wearing a burqa, no longer speak in public and no longer work. They were forbidden from contact with men who were not related by blood or were not married. (bra)
Middle East expert Erich Gysling: “Naive to think that the Taliban are less bad today”(08:40)