Tributes are pouring in after a former Afghan lawmaker was killed in Kabul

Greetings poured in on Monday after a former Afghan lawmaker was shot dead by gunmen in her home in the capital, Kabul, on Sunday.

This killing was the first time that an MP from the previous administration had been killed in the city since the Taliban seized power.

Mirsal Nabizadeh was among the few female parliamentarians who remained in Kabul after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Police say one of her bodyguards was also killed in the attack on Sunday.

“Hold the perpetrators accountable!” Karen Decker, the US Chargé d’Affairs for Afghanistan, wrote on Twitter.

“Angry, saddened by the murder of Mirsal Nabizadeh – a tragic loss. I offer my condolences to Mirsal’s family and hope to see them get justice for this senseless act,” Decker said in her Twitter post.

Nabizada’s brother was also injured in the attack, according to Khalid Zadran, spokesman for the Kabul police chief in the Taliban administration. He added that the police are conducting an investigation.

Hannah Neumann, MEP, also tweeted her condolences. “I’m sad and angry and I want the world to know! I was killed in the dark, but the Taliban are building gender apartheid in broad daylight,” Newman said.

Earlier, local police chief Hamidullah Khalid said another security guard fled the scene with money and jewelry.

Abdullah Abdullah, a senior official in the former Western-backed Afghan government, said he was saddened by Nabizada’s death and hoped the perpetrators would be punished. He described her as “a representative and servant of the people.”

Nabizada was elected in 2019 to represent Kabul and remained in office until the Taliban takeover. She was originally from the eastern province of Nangarhar.

She has also worked for a private Non-Governmental Group (NGO), Institute of Human Resource Development and Research.

After they seized power, the Taliban initially said they would not impose the same harsh rules on society as they did during their first rule of Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

But gradually they imposed more restrictions, particularly on women. They prevented women and girls from studying beyond the sixth grade and barred them from most jobs.