Afghan, August 16: They march proudly in line… the women soldiers leading Afghanistan hopefully towards a brighter tomorrow.
The 29 women are the first female recruits to train as officers in Afghanistan’s army, proof that the Taliban’s iron grip on the country is loosening.
They have signed up at a military college near Kabul. Among them are wives and mothers, dressed in the same battle fatigues and desert boots as the men.
A black hijab headscarf is their only concession to femininity.
It’s a remarkable sign of how much life in Afghanistan is changing. Only a few years ago, when they were growing up in the shadow of the Taliban’s rule, girls were not even allowed to go to school. If they were allowed outdoors at all, they would always be hidden behind the head-to-toe burka and treated as second-class citizens.
Now they talk about freedom, and defying the fanatics who used to terrorise them.
Recruit Habiba Sayed, 28, who is married with four children, said: “Three years ago, my 15-year-old cousin was playing with some friends in the street. I don’t know why, but the Taliban killed them all.
“Their bodies were so badly mutilated that my cousin could only be identified by a scar on his hand.
“Then a few months ago a man came to visit his family and was wearing his sleeves rolled above his wrists, which the Taliban thought was too Western.
“They caught him and pulled out his fingernails to punish him. They said if he had worn sleeves above his elbow they would have cut his hands off. Such senseless cruelty is why I wanted to join the army.
“The Taliban don’t know what it is to be human. Once my training has finished I aim to be on the frontline if the war continues.”
Some aspects of Muslim culture are still observed at the camp. The women have their own cordoned-off area of classrooms and an accommodation block, barricaded by huge metal doors and a warning sign that no male visitors are allowed.
And inside there are the occasional clues to the army’s new soldiers, such as a neat line of pink towels draped over the edge of the bunks, female toiletries neatly stacked next to family families.
It was in February that an advert on TV invited women aged between 19 and 35 with at least nine years of education to join as officer recruits.
Out of the 100 women who applied, 35 began training with six dropping out in the early stages.
Suria Salay, 19, said: “When I saw the ad on television I was so excited. The situation for young women in Afghanistan is still bad. Some families are openminded but many just keep their daughters at home until they are old enough to marry.
“I was thinking about going to university to become a lawyer or a journalist, but this is a much better opportunity for me . I get to learn things here that I wouldn’t learn anywhere else.”
Laila Ibrahimi, 31, was encouraged to apply by her husband, who is an officer himself. “I always wanted to be strong and serve the country,” she said.
Married at 18 and a mother of three, she is pragmatic about their arrangements: “My husband’s first wife looks after my children,” she said.
The women are currently undertaking 20 weeks of basic training which involves drill, weapons, first aid and physical training, as well as a specialist trade, such as finance or logistics.
They are taught by a team of female Afghan instructors with the help of 9 American women soldiers.
Once they qualify they will work in combat support units alongside male soldiers. At first they will be office-based, but many hope, eventually, to be deployed on the frontline.
It is hoped that one day women will make up 10 per cent of the Afghanistan army.
At the start the new recruits had no concept of military discipline. They would talk in class, fall asleep during lessons and complain bitterly about PE sessions. Now they are adjusted to an army life that begins every day at 4.30am and finishes at nine in the evening.
“Most of the girls hadn’t done any physical exercise in their lives,” 1st Sgt Kristian Norton, an American mentor, said. “They had never felt their blood pumping and so thought they were having a heart attack.
“They’d cry out, ‘I’m dying!’ and burst into tears. Now they just love doing sport.”
The women accept they are risking their lives. Even in today’s Afghanistan, many bitterly oppose the changes.
Almost all the cadets keep their job a secret from anyone outside their immediate family or friends. But for some, even their close family bitterly disapprove.
Zahra Bayat said: “When I decided to join the army, my immediate family were pleased for me but my uncle, who is a mullah, thinks I have shamed the family.
He told me that if he sees me in the street he will kill me.”
Is she scared? “No, not now I am a soldier. I won’t let people like my uncle destroy girls’ lives any more. This is what I am fighting for.”
Another recruit Maryam Youssefy, 19, added: “The last time I went home I was so scared that the Taliban would somehow find out that I am in the military and kill me that I wore the burka again, just so I could be anonymous.”
Col Abdul Rahim, the commander of the Officer Training Brigade, acknowledges the risks involved.
“The recruits may come from open-minded families but some of their male relations think they have brought dishonour on the family by being independent and mixing with men.
“But after years of Taliban rule, it is great that we can recruit women again. We need more to join.
“It is important to show the advancement of Afghanistan to the rest of the world.”
–Agencies–