Chapter 1: Dying to Lead: Women Leaders in Afghanistan During the 2012–2014 Transition and Beyond

Three recent videos illustrate the contrasting status of women in Afghanistan today. One video filmed the perfunctory 2013 execution of a young woman named Najiba in Qinchak village in Northern Afghanistan ( Journeyman Pictures, 2013). Raped by a Taliban, she was executed for adultery after a mock trial headed by a local Taliban leader. Her husband delivered the three fatal shots. A second video featured several young women incarcerated in the Badam Bagh women’s prison in Kabul for “moral crimes” (Eshajhian, 2013). One of them, Sabereh, was imprisoned for being found with a boy in her father’s house. An examination by a physician proved that she was still a virgin. She could serve many years for this crime unless the boy agreed to marry her. He refused and the judge sentenced her to three years. In the third video, Member of Parliament Fawzia Koofi discussed her 2014 candidacy to be the first woman president of Afghanistan (MoxNews, 2013). Koofi eventually withdrew her candidacy, but her intentions reflect the steely resolve of the growing number of Afghan women leaders fighting for women’s rights and equality. Within the context of Afghanistan, these women are dying to lead.