India, March 29 -- A day before Kabul fell to the Taliban, Manizha Bakhtari asked Afghanistan's Foreign Minister Mohammad Haneef Atmar: "What will we do if the government falls?" "The government won't fall," Atmar assured his ambassador to Austria.

Hours later, Taliban troops walked into the capital after America pulled its last forces out of Afghanistan. The Foreign Minister soon fled the country, seeking refuge in Turkey. Bakhtari didn't. Defying the Taliban's order dismissing her, she remained in the embassy and still continues to represent her country in Vienna while fighting for the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan as the last Afghan woman envoy in the world.

Last week, Bakhtari, 52, was given a standing ovation by the audi...