For someone like you, who has seen their country go through several stages of transition, tell us your story of growing up in Afghanistan during different phases- from the Soviet occupation, the Taliban years and now. Personal stories are a large part of why one joins politics. The first edition of the series features women political leaders from the South Asia region. This is part of a new series titled “ Women, Power and Politics”, where we bring you conversations with radical and progressive women leaders from across the world. In a two part interview with BehanBox and Women for Politics, Fawzia Koofi talks about her journey into politics, the peace negotiations with the Taliban and her agenda for the women and girls and the future of Afghanistan. In 2019, Koofi started her own political party- “Movement Of Change For Afghanistan”- where sixty percent of leadership positions are held by women. Since then, she has been a tireless campaigner for the freedoms and future for the women and girls in Afghanistan.

However, she was forced to drop out of the contest for the highest office in the country after the Election Commission changed the registration date, which disqualified her for being under the age of 40.Ī passionate women’s rights activist, Fawzia Koofi started the ‘Back to School Campaign’ in Afghanistan for ensuring the right to education for girls after the fall of the Taliban. She was elected as the first female Vice President of the National Assembly in the same year.įawzia Koofi could have been the first female president of Afghanistan. Soon after the fall of the Taliban regime, Koofi joined politics.ģ3 years after the conflict, when Afghanistan established its first elected democratic parliament in 2005, Koofi was elected to the Wolesi Jirga-the lower house of the Afghan National Assembly from Badakhshan province in Northern Afghanistan. As a medical student at the top of her class, she was forced to quit studies when the Taliban took over Afghanistan in the 1990s. Throughout her life, Fawzia Koofi, has beaten the odds.Īs a newborn, she survived after being left in the sun for several hours by her mother, as her conservative family which had 19 daughters from her father’s two wives, did not want another daughter. They often try to kill me”, she writes in her memoir, ‘ The Favoured Daughter’.ĭespite this, she is negotiating for peace, as one of the only two women in the pan Afghan delegation, in talks with the hardline Islamic group for the future of Afghanistan. “The Taliban dislike women holding such powerful positions in government as I do, and they dislike my public criticisms even more. Fawzia Koofi (45), the Member of Parliament from Afghanistan, has survived several assassination attempts by the Taliban.

The favored daughter by fawzia koofi