Worried about Afghan women, minorities and human rights advocates: Malala Yousafzai

Pakistani education activist and youngest Nobel Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai took to social media on Sunday to say that she is deeply worried about Afghan women as the Taliban gained control of most of the country.  After taking over prominent cities such as Khost, Kandahar and Herat, the Taliban, on Sunday, entered Kabul and initiated talks with members of the civilian government at the Afghan Presidential Palace. Following this, President Ashraf Ghani reportedly stepped down from his post and reportedly left the country. 

“We watch in complete shock as Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates. Global, regional and local powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians,” Malala tweeted on Sunday. 

Also Read: Iran, Albania to temporarily house Afghan refugees fleeing Taliban

Born in Pakistan’s Swat Valley in 1997, Malala Yousafzai believed strongly in the need of education. Her father ran a school. When the Taliban gained control of the Swat Valley, Taliban ordered her father to close his school. He, however, refused and he and Malala continued to advocate for the right to education. 

Also Read: More than 550,000 people have fled their homes in Afghanistan: UNHCR

On October 9, 2012, when Malala was riding the school bus home from school, a Taliban shooter boarded the vehicle and shot her in the head with a rifle. After being treated in a Pakistani hospital, she was airlifted to a hospital in the United Kingdom were she had to spend over two months in the hospital.

“In October 2012, on my way home from school, a masked gunman boarded my school bus and asked, “Who is Malala?” He shot me on the left side of my head. I woke up 10 days later in a hospital in Birmingham, England. The doctors and nurses told me about the attack — and that people around the world were praying for my recovery,” Malala wrote on her website.