Shedding resistance to step up for the military
KABUL: From a childhood as a refugee, Captain Safia Ferozi is now flying a transport plane for Afghanistan’s air force as the country’s second female pilot, a sign of the efforts to bring more women into the country’s armed forces.
The 26-year-old is married to a fellow pilot, who flies in the same unit supporting army ground forces. They are part of a small Afghan air force trying to take a greater role in fighting the Taliban insurgency.
“When I wear military uniform, I really, really feel proud of myself as a woman,” Ferozi said. She flies a C-208, a turboprop plane used as transport for the armed forces.
Nearly 16 years since the collapse of the Taliban regime after the US-led invasion in 2001, Afghan women are taking steps to increase their presence in society. Still, they face resistance in a deeply conservative society where women are largely expected to stay home and where violence against them remains a widespread problem.
At high school in post-Taliban Afghanistan, Ferozi saw a TV commercial urging women to join the military. After graduation she enrolled in the military academy, studying to become a communication officer. Then the academy invited women to become pilots. Ferozi and 12 other women applied, and only she passed the tests to enter training. She graduated last year. – AP