Azra Jafari ( fa, عذرا جعفری) is an Afghanistani politician and women rights advocate who became the first female mayor in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

appointed by

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Hamid Karzai Hamid Karzai (; Pashto/ fa, حامد کرزی, , ; born 24 December 1957) is an Afghan statesman who served as the fourth president of Afghanistan from July 2002 to September 2014, including as the first elected president of the Islamic Repub ...

in December 2008. She became the mayor of

Nili NILI was a Jewish espionage network which assisted the United Kingdom in its fight against the Ottoman Empire in Palestine between 1915 and 1917, during World War I. NILI is an acronym which stands for the Hebrew phrase "Netzah Yisrael Lo Yesha ...

, a town in

Daykundi Province Daykundi ( prs, دایکندی) also spelled as Daikundi, Daykondi, Daikondi or Dai Kundi, is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the central part of the country. It has a population of about 516,504, and is a Hazara Pro ...

of Afghanistan. She belongs to the Hazara ethnic group.

Personal life

Jafari completed her high school in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

while living there as a refugee and continued her education at Midwifery school in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

2005. After the removal of the

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

in late 2001 and the establishment of the new western-backed Karzai administration, she returned and participated in the ''Emergency

Loya Jirga A jirga ( ps, جرګه, ''jərga'') is an assembly of leaders that makes decisions by consensus according to Pashtunwali, the Pashtun social code. It is conducted in order to settle disputes among the Pashtuns, but also by members of other ethnic ...

'' in

Career

Azra Jafari was editor-in-chief of Afghan social and cultural magazine ''Farhang'' in 1998. Later, she established an elementary school for Afghan refugees in Iran while she was working as Officer in Charge in Refugees' Cultural Center. In 2001, Jafari joined Emergency

in Kabul. In December 2008, she was appointed as the first and only female mayor in Afghanistan. She was appointed as the mayor of Nili town

Publications

Jafari has been involved in the writing of two books since returning to Afghanistan. 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. She wrote ''I am a Working Woman'', which talks about employment law and the rights of Afghan women in the labour market, and was published in 2008.

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.

Personal life

Career

Publications

Awards

See also

References

External links