Former Afghan MP and critic of Taliban shot dead in Kabul

ONE of two remaining female MPS who stayed in Afghanistan after the Taliban took over has been shot dead in her home in Kabul by an unknown assailant, according to the Afghan police.

Mursal Nabizada, 32, from the eastern province of Nangarhar, served as an MP in the former Us-backed government from 2018 until the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021 and refused to leave Afghanistan despite receiving death threats.

Ms Nabizada appeared on Afghan television several months ago, during which she criticised the Taliban’s crackdown on women’s rights, including a near-total ban on women working or enrolling in secondary or higher education.

“This country is not a restaurant that I dislike its service and leave it – it’s my land and I will stay beside my people,” she said in a voice recording that recently circulated on social media.

Ms Nabizada and her bodyguard were shot dead on the first floor of her Kabul home, which doubled as her office, in the early hours of Sunday morning by several assailants. Her brother and another bodyguard were wounded in the attack.

“I heard the gunfire and when we went down, they [attackers] had left and my daughter was lying on the ground with blood on the bed alongside my son,” said Ms Nabizada’s mother in an interview with Afghan media.

An investigation has been opened into the murder, which was the first killing of a lawmaker from the former regime in the country’s capital since the Taliban’s return to power.