Azra Jafari

Azra Jafari (; born 1978 or 1979) is an Afghan politician and women's rights advocate who became the first female mayor in Afghanistan appointed by President Hamid Karzai in December 2008. She became the mayor of Nili, a town in Daykundi Province of Afghanistan. She belongs to the Hazara ethnic group.

Jafari has lived in the United States since 2014.

Personal life Jafari was born into a Hazara family. She grew up in Ghor Province. During the Afghan civil war of the 1990s, Jafari fled to Iran as a refugee,

After the removal of the Taliban in late 2001 and the establishment of the new western-backed Karzai administration, she returned and participated in the 2002 loya jirga in Kabul.

She continued her education at Midwifery school in Kabul 2005.

In December 2008, she was appointed mayor of the town of Nili, becoming the first and till then the only female mayor in Afghanistan. As mayor, Jafari faced a lack of infrastructure. She regularly traveled to Kabul to request government funds.

Since 2014, Jafari has lived in Maryland, United States, having fled Afghanistan following threats from the Taliban.

Publications Jafari has been involved in the writing of two books. She contributed to The Making of the New Constitution of Afghanistan, which is about the political system and processes in Afghanistan and was published in 2003. Her other book, I am a Working Woman, talks about employment law and the rights of Afghan women in the labour market, and was published in 2008. I am a Working Woman is specifically aimed at readers with low literacy.

Awards Azra Jafari has been awarded the Meeto Memorial Award at the Pakistan National Council of the Arts for her work and commitment to social development.