Taliban-Afghanistan crisis shocks Malala; activist says she's 'deeply worried' for women, minorities

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner at the age of 17 in 2014, took to Twitter to express shock after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

The 24-year-old rights activist urged global, regional and local powers to join forces for an immediate ceasefire, and to protect refugees and civilians. She said the people of the country need urgent humanitarian aid.

"We watch in complete shock as Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates," she wrote on Sunday.



The longstanding war in Afghanistan reached a watershed moment on Sunday when the Taliban insurgents closed in on Kabul before entering the city and took over the presidential palace, forcing embattled President Ashraf Ghani to join fellow citizens and foreigners to flee the country.

Taliban insurgents began moving towards Kabul following the overnight collapse of the two remaining cities of Mazar-e-Sharif and Jalalabad.

In December 2012, Taliban militants in northeastern Pakistan's Swat Valley had shot Yousafzai in the head when she was 15 for her campaign. Through her campaign, she was trying to fight for right to education for girls. The Taliban, who are opposed to the education of girls, have destroyed hundreds of schools in Pakistan.

Severely wounded, she was airlifted from one military hospital in Pakistan to another and later flown to the UK for treatment. Following the attack, the Taliban released a statement saying that they would target Malala again if she survived.

Unable to return to Pakistan after her recovery, the activist moved to Britain, setting up the Malala Fund and supporting local education advocacy groups with a focus on Pakistan, Nigeria, Jordan, Syria and Kenya.

She began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog for the BBC's Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where they were banning girls' education.

Malala completed her degree in philosophy, politics and economics from the prstigious Oxford University in June last year.

In 2014, Malala shared her Nobel Peace Prize with India's social activist Kailash Satyarthi.

The Taliban ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, but following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States, the brutal regime of the militant group came to an end as they were removed from power by US-led forces in 2001. The group has been on the offensive in recent months and has now seized power again.