WUNRN
AFGHANISTAN - WOMEN COMMISSIONED
INTO THE ARMY
recruitment drive by the army.
23 September 2010
- The first female Afghan
officers since the early 1990s have been commissioned into the army.
Twenty-nine women passed out from a class
of new recruits who hope to take the lead role in security from foreign forces
by 2014.
Their recruitment is part of a huge
US-funded training programme. Women were forbidden from serving by the Taliban.
The aim is to strengthen army and police
ranks so that 150,000 foreign forces can begin to withdraw.
Fierce fighting
"I always wanted to be a part of the
ANA (Afghan National Army) and am so proud to wear this uniform,"
25-year-old Meena Sharifi - one of the 29 women in the graduation ceremony at
the Army Training Centre on the outskirts of Kabul - told the AFP news agency.
"I want to
defend my country against its enemies."
The women will not however be sent to the
front line of the fight against the Taliban, which is at its fiercest since the
US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
US President Barack Obama has set a
deadline of mid-2011 for American troops to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan
and military commanders in Kabul say that the training programme is of paramount
importance if the transition is to take place smoothly.
Women served in the army of Afghanistan's
communist-backed regime in the 1980s but retreated from military service during
the country's ensuing civil war.
The British officer who oversaw their training
said all the new recruits were good and enthusiastic soldiers.
"[They are] all keen as mustard to
join the Afghan National Army, and I think you will have seen today a very
professional display - and that is the bottom line," Gen David Peterson,
commander of the Army Training Centre, told the Reuters news agency.
Afghanistan's armed forces and police
number roughly 300,000 personnel.
"The size of our army has increased
to 136,000 soldiers, up from about 97,000 in November last year. We must work
harder to increase the size and quality of the army in the coming years,"
ANA chief of staff Gen Shir Mohammad Karimi said.