Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai has shared her concern for the Afghanistan’s girls and women after the Taliban took control of the country on Sunday Aug. 15.
In 2012, Yousafzai, then a 15-year-old schoolgirl in nearby Pakistan, was shot in the head by a local branch of the Taliban for campaigning for girls to be allowed to go to school.
The Taliban, which controlled the majority of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, are expected to declare a new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in the coming days.
During its rule, the Taliban enforced a strict interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, committing massacres against Afghan civilians, denying hundreds of thousands of starving civilians UN food supplies and carrying out a scorched earth policy of burning fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes.
It banned girls from going to school and workplaces and required them to be accompanied by a male relative and wear a burqa at all times in public. Women who disobeyed were whipped or executed.
Cultural activities and media, such as art, movies and music, were also prohibited.
Many are now concerned that the Taliban will roll back two decades of gains women and ethnic minorities have made, AP reported.
Yousafzai, who survived her murder attempt, later became the youngest recipient of the Nobel peace prize in 2014 for her advocacy of education in 2014.
In the same tweet, she called for an immediate ceasefire and encouraged other powers to express the same concern, as well as provide aid to Afghanistan and protect its refugees and civilians.
