Afghan lady governor Salima Mazari captured by Taliban, whereabouts unknown

One of the first women governors in Afghanistan, Salima Mazari, who took up arms to fight the Taliban has reportedly been captured. However, her whereabouts are unknown as of now. Mazari, who is known for raising her voice against the Taliban, had said earlier there will be no place for women if the insurgents take control of the country. "In the provinces controlled by the Taliban, no women exist there anymore, not even in the cities. They are all imprisoned in their homes," she had said in an interview from Mazar-e-Sharif, before it fell to Taliban.

Mazari is a member of the Hazara community - most of whom are Shia Muslims, who the Sunni Taliban consider a heretical sect. They have been regularly targeted by the Taliban and Islamic State fighters, including an attack on a school in the capital in May that killed more than 80 girls. Before Taliban's sweeping takeover of Afghanistan, Mazari had been recruiting locals to supplement the conventional security forces in the district to fight off the militants. When many Afghan political leaders had fled the country, Salima Mazari stayed on till the surrender of Balkh province, when her district of Chahar Kint fell to the Taliban.Over the past few years, Salima Mazari had gained much praise and attention being a woman leader in Afghanistan. Speaking to The Guardian at the start of the latest Taliban onslaught in capturing Afghanistan, Salima Mazari had expressed concerns about the safety of her people.