Fatima Gailani (Pashto: فاطمه گیلانی; born in Kabul in 1954)[1] is an Afghan political leader and women's rights activist, who previously served as president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society. She was recognized as one of the BBC's 100 women of 2021.[2]
While in exile in London during the 1980s, Gailani served as spokesperson for the NIFA in the West.[4][5]
After the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 1996, Gailani convinced Muhammad Sayyid Tantawy, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar, to issue a fatwa condemning the Taliban's ban on girls’ education. After the Taliban regime fell in 2001, she returned to Afghanistan as a delegate in the 2002 loya jirga and then to participate in drafting a new constitution.[6]
From 2005 to 2016, Gailani served as president of the Afghan Red Crescent Society.[7][8] In 2017, she served as chair of the Red Cross Conference.[9]
During the Afghan peace process after 2018, she served as a member of the Afghan government's negotiating team.[10] While recovering from cancer, she was one of only four women to have participated in talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar in 2020.[11][12]
After the Fall of Kabul in August 2021, she stated that the negotiating team had been close to a peace deal "and then oops, the President has disappeared. For God’s sake."[13][14]
