A top Afghan female police officer is now on the run in Kabul after being brutally beaten by the Taliban.
Gulafroz Ebtekar, who is reportedly 34, was seen as a role model among Afghan women when she previously worked as the deputy head of criminal investigations in Afghanistan's Interior Ministry, Daily Mail reports.
While she spent five nights camping outside Kabul airport in a bid to escape the country after the Taliban takeover, she was unsuccessful and had to go on the run after being targeted at Hamid Karzai International Airport.
She explained that she sent messages to various embassies in different countries hoping to secure passage out of Afghanistan for her and her family, but she was ultimately unsuccessful.
Per Daily Mail, Ebtekar was the first Afghan woman to graduate from a police academy with a master's degree. It's reported that at one point she believed that American soldiers were going to help her, her boyfriend, and her family.
She explained that because she is able to speak some English, she told the American soldiers at the airport that she was no longer safe to stay in Kabul and handed over her documentation.
She said: "We were asked: 'Where do you want to go?' I replied: 'It doesn't matter, to a safe country where there is a chance we may survive.
"They looked at me and answered quite impudently: 'Okay'. And they asked one soldier to show us the way. I thought they would escort us to a plane or provide security."
When Ebtekar was turned away from the airport, she returned to her home and that's when her mother told her that the Taliban were searching for her.
The police officer went on to hide in three separate flats before trying to escape the country again, but she was discovered by the Taliban who allegedly beat her with their weapons and stones.
She said: "I spoke on television, spoke out on social networks, fought against extremism, terrorism, advocated for the rights of women and children, and believed in the best for our country."
However, the Taliban went on to write her letters saying that she had no right to speak about women's rights and shouldn't be working in the police force.
Ebtekar believes that despite the Taliban claiming to be more moderate now that they have returned to power, their attitude towards women will never change.