1. Originally from Badakhshan province and ethnically Tajik, Koofi was recently a member of the Afghan delegation negotiating peace with the Taliban in Doha Qatar.
24 Facts About Fawzia Koofi
1. 2.
Fawzia Koofi is an ex Member of Parliament in Kabul and was the Vice President of the National Assembly.
3.
Fawzia Koofi's father was a Member of Parliament for 25 years but died at the end of the Afghan war, killed by Mujahideen.
4.
Fawzia Koofi's father had married a younger woman and her mother sought to have a son to maintain her husband's affection.
5.
The day Fawzia Koofi was born, she was left out to die in the sun.
6.
Fawzia Koofi managed to persuade her parents to send her to school, making her the only girl in the family to attend.
7.
Fawzia Koofi originally pursued a medical degree but was unable to continue when the Taliban banned women from all education after their 1996 takeover.
8.
Fawzia Koofi worked with vulnerable groups such as Internally Displaced People and marginalized women and children, and served as a child protection officer for UNICEF from 2002 to 2004.
9.
Fawzia Koofi began her political career in 2001 after the fall of the Taliban, promoting the right to education of girls in her "Back to school" campaign.
10.
From 2001 to 2004, Fawzia Koofi worked with UNICEF as a Child Protection Officer to protect children from violence, exploitation and abuse.
11.
Fawzia Koofi was the first female Second Deputy Speaker of Parliament in the history of Afghanistan.
12.
Fawzia Koofi was re-elected in the parliamentary elections of 2010 and then elected MP from a total of 69 female members of the Assembly.
13.
In 2009 Fawzia Koofi drafted the Elimination of Violence Against Women legislation.
14.
Fawzia Koofi has survived several assassination attempts, including one on March 8,2010, near the town of Tora Bora.
15.
Fawzia Koofi intended to run for President of Afghanistan in the 2014 Afghan presidential election on a platform of equal rights for women, promoting universal education, and the opposition to political corruption, but she said in July 2014 that the election commission moved the registration date to October 2013 and as a result she did not qualify for the minimum age requirement of 40 years of age.
16.
Fawzia Koofi was re-elected as a member of Parliament in 2014 but no longer serves as the deputy speaker.
17.
Fawzia Koofi currently serves as Chairperson of Afghanistan's Women, Civil Society and Human Rights Commission.
18.
In 2020, Fawzia Koofi was a part of the 21-member team, which was supposed to represent the Afghanistan government in the negotiation peace talks with the Taliban.
19.
Amid the rapid advance of the Taliban during the summer of 2021, when asked in an interview about her thoughts regarding the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, Fawzia Koofi said that the US had abandoned the women of Afghanistan and that she's very disappointed with what's happening.
20.
Fawzia Koofi has made it a priority to defend women's rights in Afghanistan.
21.
Fawzia Koofi has promoted education for women and children by advocating for access to good schools and creating opportunities for non-formal education for her constituents in Badakhshan province.
22.
Fawzia Koofi was married to a man named Hamid, an engineer and chemistry teacher.
23.
Fawzia Koofi's marriage was arranged, but she did not disapprove of her family's choice.
24.
Fawzia Koofi was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women in 2013.