Zarifa Ghafari

Zarifa Ghafari (, ; born 1994) is a former female mayor of Maidan Shahr, capital city of the Wardak Province, Afghanistan. Ghafari was one of the few Afghan female mayors, next to the first Afghanistan's mayor, Azra Jafari and Khadija Zahra Ahmadi, and was also the youngest to be appointed, at the age of 24. She is known for her efforts to advance women's rights in Afghanistan. Ghafari was chosen as an International Woman of Courage in 2020 by the US Secretary of State. She has survived three assassination attempts.

Life and career Early life and family Zarifa Ghafari was born in 1994 in Kabul. She was the first born of eight children born to Abdul Wasi Ghafari, an Afghan Army colonel and commander in the Special Operations Corps. She was not allowed to be educated but she attended a clandestine school. Education was legalised in 2001 after the Taliban rule was toppled. She had to again attend Halima Khazan High School in secret after her father was sent to work in Paktia. Her parents did not want her to attend because of a suicide attack on the school. She was hospitalised later when she was caught in the blast of a bomb that killed the provincial governor.

Her father was gunned down by the militants in front of his house in Kabul on November 5, 2020. Ghafari attended Panjab University, Chandigarh, India only because she had obtained a scholarship. Her parents had already refused her to go to Shaikh Zayed University because they did not want her to be living alone. Her degree was in economics and she could have lived in Chandigarh but she decided to return home. She also became the youngest mayor at the age of 24 in Afghanistan and few sources mistakenly claimed Ghafari as the first female mayor in Afghanistan. However, her term as mayor of Maiden Shahr had to be delayed for a period of nine months due to protests and threats by local politicians about her age and gender. There have been other female mayors in Afghanistan, but in areas generally seen as more culturally tolerant. In a traditionally conservative province like Wardak where the Taliban have widespread support, she held a nearly untenable position. She also faced death threats from Taliban and ISIL after assuming her duties as mayor. Zarifa was sworn in as mayor of the Maidan Shahr in March 2019. However, for safety reasons, she resided in Kabul. Ghafari was able to introduce an anti-litter campaign in her town and she is a role model to other women. She also made a special request and appeal from the then US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to safeguard the women's rights in Afghanistan following the uncertainties posed by the Taliban-USA negotiations.

Fall of the Islamic Republic In 2021, Joe Biden ordered the complete withdrawal of all US Forces from Afghanistan. Ghafari notes that the Americans had destroyed whole villages in her country to remove a few Taliban, but with this deal she said they "sold my country". Following the takeover of Afghanistan's government by the Taliban in mid-August 2021, she fled the country arriving in Istanbul, Turkey on Wednesday, August 18, along with her partner, Bashir Mohammadi, her mother and four brothers and three sisters. She stayed in Bonn or Düsseldorf for six months before she decided to leave Germany and return to her home country. She discussed this with her fiancée, with the authorities in Kabul, a Netflix film crew and her biographer and then she returned relying on her profile to keep her safe. Her first post on social media was a photo of her at her father's grave. She was only there for days but although she noticed the improvements in security she also saw that women rights were dramatically reduced and they were banned from public places like parks and fun fairs.

In the media In November 2022, Netflix released a documentary about her called In Her Hands, and an interview with her was published by the Financial Times. Zarifa was chosen as an International Woman of Courage in 2020 by the US Secretary of State.