WASHINGTON — The young woman draped head-to-toe in traditional Afghan garb was easy to pick out from the crowd during a recent meeting here in the U.S. capital. She sat comfortably, oblivious to the lux surroundings and bare-shouldered patrons of a Washington hotel lobby on a sweltering July day.

As a member of the male-dominated local Kandahar government, called the provincial council, Sarina Faizy is accustomed to standing out.

She comes from the heartland of Pashtun culture, where a woman’s place is hidden and where the Taliban established its rule in 1994 based on the unyielding doctrine of Islamic Sharia law. Women are forbidden to work, to seek an education or to participate in governance and the shaping of their communities. Yet she sits on the government and is outspoken in her fight for equity and peace in her country.

Besides, Faizy, 26, was far more interested in getting across the many ideas that tumble from her in rapid-fire, sometimes patchy English.

“Generally, for a female, it’s not easy to fight for the rights of women to get education, to participate in politics, in the peace process,” she said. “But we females should do that. … We should not leave our country. ... Because we are the youth and everyone is looking to us. We are the hope of that country.”

To keep that hope alive, Faizy not only holds a seat on the provincial council but also runs a charity she founded to help mothers learn to raise healthy children. She is a frequent guest on local television to get out her message that peace is possible and women can make a difference.

She readily acknowledges that her choice to tackle the male system in Kandahar is fraught with hardship. She and her fellow female politicians are often disrespected and threatened.

“Every day, every day we have problems,” she said. “But I shall not leave my fight.”

The origins of action

Faizy’s family history led her to become one of four women on the 19-member provincial council.

Her mother was a medical doctor. Her father was a businessman. The two met in Kabul and wed out of love during a period of freedom in Afghanistan. Though she and her siblings – a brother and five sisters -- grew up in Kandahar mostly under the Taliban, they learned the value of respect, education and women’s rights.

Like Faizy, three of her sisters are unmarried and pursuing professional careers in the footsteps of their mother, who died four years ago.

Two sisters are in India studying law and engineering on scholarships. Another is studying medicine. And Faizy, when she is not practicing politics, is studying law at Kandahar University. That can be surprising, she said, even to other Afghans.

“Even when I go to Kabul people say, ‘Oh my god, you are not from Kandahar! In Kandahar there is a lot of Taliban – you can’t go to school.’ So I say, “No, it’s not like that! You can come out. See? I can speak English! I learned that in Kandahar!’”

The Taliban have hold in the some of the rural areas, she said. But in the city, women are attending university and getting jobs.

That’s not to say women don’t get heckled on campus. Faizy said she’s often harassed by male students who try to silence her and are in shock when she asks questions.

But she tells them that she is educated and in politics, and that it’s her turn to speak. “Because at their homes they are talking and women are just listening,” she said. “At university, they are listening and we are talking!”

Faizy started her activism early. She organized a girls basketball team in her high school, playing intramurals with teams from Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif, she said, though she said she’s wary of pictures from her playing days because the girls wore pants and she fears she will not be taken seriously as a politician.

In 2011, she heard about a job opening in the media office of the International Security Assistance Force, the NATO-led security mission in Afghanistan.

It was a dangerous endeavor with the Taliban stronghold in wartime. But she was driven to get involved in social change and applied for the job. “I said, ‘I want to take that risk,’ ” she said.

When she received threats or was bullied by Afghan men who believed she had overstepped her boundaries -- and when her parents urged her to stop working there -- Faizy said she was determined to continue.

But after two years at ISAF, she learned that her reputation was being damaged by rumors that she was working with Americans and behaving inappropriately. She resigned in 2013.

Meanwhile, she volunteered with the National Democratic Institute, an international nonprofit that supports democratic institutions. Even after the institute closed its Kandahar office, she said she and few others continued working to sustain some of its women’s programs.

In late 2014, Faizy saw another opportunity to challenge the system. Using what she’d learned from the institute, ISAF and her family, she launched a campaign for provincial council, talking to women, knocking on doors and ultimately winning a seat.

Earning respect

Faizy won by promising to fight for women’s rights and for education and by being an avid proponent of the peace process.

And because she refused to be silenced.

She and the other women on the council are frequently told to shut up, she said. It can be humiliating and challenging, and she had to learn to navigate the fine line between pushing the boundary and stepping so far beyond it that she was at risk.

“The men behave very badly with us,” she said. “They are not respecting us. They don’t have any value for females. … Hopefully, they will understand someday.”

Taking on cases of corruption or individual women’s rights, she’s received death threats against herself and her family.

Early on, she had a disagreement with one of the men on the council, and she said she was summoned to a meeting with Gen. Abdul Raziq, the powerful Kandahar police chief credited with keeping the peace in the city and keeping the Taliban at bay, but also of using brutal force.

Raziq looks out for the interests of women, she said. But he and others told her she needed to watch her step. “They said, ‘Be careful Sarina. ... We know you have your own goals, but try to understand the situation of Kandahar,’” she said.

They told her to do what she wanted, but also give the men their say.

“I am not shutting my mouth,” she said with a big smile. “When they tell me to, I say, ‘OK, it’s your turn to speak.’ And then when everyone talks, I say, ‘Please give me a chance. I also have a right to talk and give my advice.’’’ During her meetings here in the states, she asked for U.S. Agency for International Development support to expand her outreach.

“I think she’s a strong, committed leader,” said Belquis Ahmadi, a program director at the U.S. Institute for Peace, who met with Faizy and her group in Washington. The work she is doing “is very brave, especially for a young woman working in Kandahar.”

A different kind of future

Faizy said she is often asked why she doesn’t apply for political asylum in the United States. She answers that maybe one day she will, but her work is not done. Her country is divided. In Kabul, President Ashraf Ghani is challenged by chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, who insists Ghani stole the 2014 elections. The Taliban is fighting the government, and Islamic State fighters are making inroads and seeking to gain control.

The national parliament is filled with corrupt politicians and stolen seats, she said. “No one is working independently,” she said. People have lost faith in elections, she said, so they don’t participate.

Faizy believes it is her job to try to restore trust in government. To educate people on the promise of peace. To help give women their voices.

“We don’t want a fight anymore in our country. We want peace. We need education. We need also a great life like people have here in America. We are also human. We, especially females, want a part in politics, in the peace process.’’

She won’t marry, she said, until she achieves her goals.

“Because I am sure my husband will not allow me to do work,” she said. “I faced a lot of struggles to be a PC member. I don’t want to lose that.”

Showing more determination than faith, Faizy said she is hopeful for her country and has no intention of letting that go either.“Everything is possible,” she said.

Cahn.dianna@stripes.com Twitter: @DiannaCahn