KABUL (Pajhwok): A courageous Afghan women rights campaigner has died of multiple system atrophy and a degenerative neurological disorder, a news report said on Sunday.
After fleeing Afghanistan before the 1979 Soviet invasion, Sima Wali worked for the rest of her life to support the Afghan women under Taliban’s oppressive regime.
The Washington Post reported Ms. Wali died on Sept. 22 at her residence in Falls Church, Virginia. She was 66, according to her nephew Suleiman Wali.
Her humanitarian efforts was commended by Amnesty International and other non-profit organisations. While on a visit to her native country in 2005, she narrowly escaped being taken hostage.
At the Bonn Conference on Afghanistan, she had said: “We still have to fight for women to be represented in every sector of Afghan society. We will not go away.’’
She had played a key role in the formation of the Afghan Ministry of Women’s Affairs after the ouster of the Taliban regime in 2001. Ms Wali also helped direct international funding to the Afghan women, children and refugees.
