Another Young Leader Taken. Afghans Ask: How Many More?
Fatima ‘Natasha’ Khalil, 24, was a human rights worker shaped by two decades of struggle. She joins a painfully long list of young Afghans who died trying to help their country.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Landing a job at Afghanistan’s human rights commission at age 24, Fatima Khalil had come a long way from being a refugee girl who almost did not make it at birth, with the midwife walking out before even cutting the umbilical cord.
She spoke six languages, had a strong foundation in religious studies and graduated from the American University of Central Asia with two majors. But what friends recall most is a young woman, deeply confident but sensitive, who was utterly in love with life. She wore bright colors — an orange dress for her birthday — and outdid everyone on the dance floor, but was afraid of the dark.
