Zala Zazai is a former Afghan police officer who worked in

Khost Province Khost (Pashto/Dari: ) is one of the 34 provinces of Afghanistan, located in the southeastern part of the country. Khost consists of thirteen districts and the city of Khost serves as the capital of the province. To the east, Khost Province is bord ...

. In 2021, she was named on the BBC 100 Women list.

Early life

Zazai was born into a

Pashtun Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

family that did not support girl's education; however, her mother pushed for Zazai to be able to study.

Career

Zazai trained as a police officer in

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. She was sworn in as the deputy chief of the criminal investigation police department in

in June 2020. Her appointment received mixed reactions from the community, as she was the first woman police officer in the province, which has been characterized as conservative and traditional. Zazai left Afghanistan for

Tajikistan Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...

following the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

takeover of the country in August 2021.

Personal life

Some of Zazai's extended family stopped talking to her following her swearing in as deputy chief; she reported receiving death threats from her father and uncles for taking the job.{{Cite web , last=Jardine , first=Melissa , date=August 23, 2021 , title=The world must evacuate women police in Afghanistan , url=https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/world-must-evacuate-women-police-afghanistan , access-date=2023-09-20 , website=Lowy Institute , language=en

References

Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Afghan people 21st-century Afghan women Afghan police officers Pashtun women People from Khost Province Women police officers Pashtun police officers