Maidan Sharh Mayor Zarifa Ghafari is not only the first female mayor in her area, but she's also the youngest. Citing iNews, Axios reported that she's waiting for the Taliban to come for her.
The U.S. withdrawal has put women and girls in the position that they will suffer under fundamentalist Islamic law if they remain in Afghanistan. But with the Taliban controlling the roads, it's difficult for anyone to flee the country. Even if they could flee, there aren't many accepting Afghan refugees.
Already there are reports of the Taliban painting over advertising featuring women's faces with makeup on them and other things.
"I'm sitting here waiting for them to come," Ghafari said. "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?"
Axios explained that many women expressed fear as the Taliban continued to take over Kabul. Streets were flooded with men, but women and girls that are accustomed to living openly in the country were nowhere to be found.
Ghafari has been a women's rights advocate for years, and has suffered from multiple attempts on her life.
She is one of the women that former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and first lady Melania Trump awarded an award for women in courage. At no time in President Donald Trump's withdrawal between 2019 and the end of his presidency Jan. 2021, did he or his administration work to get her out.
Over the weekend, Pompeo said that the "fall of Afghanistan" was due to critical race theory.
