Four Afghan women taking military pilot training in USA

Discussion Open Forum
1

google.com/hostednews/ap/art … 1a19b83475

Female Afghan military pilots making history in US
By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press – 2 days ago

[quote]Female Afghan military pilots making history in US
By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press – 2 days ago
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — For women in Afghanistan, said Masooma Hussaini, it’s not like “it was in Taliban times.” Her sisters are in school, women work in offices and, by next year, Hussaini and three other young women could be among their country’s first females piloting military helicopters.
Their training in the U.S. is significant. The Afghan military has a small but growing female rank, yet the skies are almost an exclusive province for men, except for one Afghan woman trained in the Soviet era.
Afghanistan remains a male-dominated culture — Afghan President Harmid Karzai spoke out as recently as last fall about women in his country still being oppressed. Hussaini, a second lieutenant, acknowledges that some Afghan men think “it’s not good” that women are breaking new ground in the military, but she and her colleagues said Wednesday that they weren’t joining the Afghan Air Force for themselves.
“We’re going to open the door for ladies in Afghanistan,” second Lt. Sourya Saleh said. “It’s a big deal for us to open this door for the others. That these other ladies who have the dream and think they can’t do it, we want to show them.”
The four women, all in their 20s, arrived at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio last week to continue their training. They’ll stay in Texas until they master English — the international language for aviation — and are scheduled to transfer to Alabama early next year for actual hands-on piloting.
By September 2012, the women could have their wings.
“We are just at the beginning right now in terms of what’s happening in Afghanistan, in terms of gender integration. But this is a huge step,” said Col. Eric Axelbank, commander of the 37th Training Wing at Lackland. "Having female officers who will become pilots, a traditionally male-dominated field in the Middle East, is groundbreaking.
“Not just in Afghanistan, but in the entire Middle East.”[/quote]

I don’t know what to think, man, but I guess that’s pretty cool. I’d have a drink in these ladies honor if it wasn’t so early in the morning. I’m not going to say anything to rain on their parade. Cheers ladies. :flowers:

2

Huge step, indeed. Bit by bit.

3

Yeah. This is cool.

Unfortunately, I just don’t think that the Taliban are going to let Afghanistan survive long enough to give these women a chance.

4

[quote=“Got To Be Kidding”]Yeah. This is cool.

Unfortunately, I just don’t think that the Taliban are going to let Afghanistan survive long enough to give these women a chance.[/quote]

I know man. I have mixed feelings about Canada’s retreat from Afghanistan. Those women have more cajones in their little fingers than all the furriners in Taiwan combined. Seems a shame to give up on them so soon. I know it’s complicated, but I have a sinking feeling that we are not taking the moral high ground here, and are not doing the right thing, and history will judge us as cowards with no backbone.