Malala Yousafzai: The Girl that Changed Pakistan
Malala Yousafzai meets with the Obamas in the Oval Office
The Obamas welcomed Yousafzai to the Oval Office “to thank her for her inspiring and passionate work on behalf of girls education in Pakistan,” according to a statement issued by the White House.
She released a statement challenging the U.S. on drone strikes in Pakistan and saying more effort should be put into promoting education in her home nation.
“I thanked President Obama for the United States’ work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees,”
Malala Yousafzai said in a statement published by the Associated Press.
“I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact.”
She has not returned to Pakistan since she was attacked, and says she misses it. She mostly listened to Western music back home in her village, particularly that by Justin Bieber, but now is listening to more Pashto and Urdu music to remind her of home, according her interview publisehed in Reuters
When she returns, she said, she wants to tell the Taliban to “be peaceful, and that their jihad is to fight through pens, through words.”
The outspoken teen won the European Union’s annual human rights award on Thursday, beating fugitive U.S. intelligence analyst Edward Snowden.
The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought has been awarded by the European Parliament each year since 1988 to commemorate Soviet scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. Its past winners include Nelson Mandela and Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, both of whom also won the Nobel Peace Prize.
