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4 Afghan women hope to break gender barriers

Second Lt. Mary Sharifzada has dreamed of becoming a pilot since she was a girl growing up in northern Afghanistan.

In about a month, the 20-year-old will make history when she and three other women in the Afghan Air Force — 2nd Lt. Narges Safari, 2nd Lt. Sourya Saleh and 2nd Lt. Masooma Hussaini — come to the U.S. to learn how to fly.

“I want to show the people of Afghanistan that women are strong,” Sharifzada said. “We want to show the people of the world that the women of Afghanistan are strong and they can do anything they want.”

The women, the first to enter their service through officer candidate school, will spend about three months improving their English at the Defense Language Institute at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, before moving to the Army’s Fort Rucker, Ala., for helicopter pilot training.

Sharifzada and her fellow female officers are wrapping up six months in an English immersion program in Afghanistan that prepares Afghan company-grade officers for follow-on training in the U.S. or the United Arab Emirates.

Called Thunder Lab, the nearly year-old program includes training in aviation terminology, flight simulators and officership, as well as discussions about the differences between American and Afghan cultures.

Thunder Lab’s commander considers the women a fantastic addition to the current class of 14.

“They are definitely raising the proverbial bar, if you will,” Lt. Col. John Howard said in a telephone interview from Kabul, where Thunder Lab is based.

‘Brave as a man’

All the women are the first in their families to join the military, and each has the unwavering support of her parents.

Like Sharifzada, all that 19-year-old Hussaini has ever wanted to do is fly.

“My dream is to be a pilot, that’s why I joined the air force,” she said.

Hussaini’s parents couldn’t be more encouraging, she said, describing them as “very happy” and “very proud.”

“They said I’m as brave as a man,” said Hussaini, who grew up in Bamyan province in central Afghanistan.

Sharifzda, who is from Baghlan province, is worried about being gone more than a year from her parents.

“I’m the oldest child,” she said, “and when I leave them, my mom will cry.”

Still, she can’t wait to come to America.

“It’s the first time I’ve gone outside Afghanistan,” she said. “And the United States is a very big country. I’m very, very excited.”

Being a pilot is Safari’s dream, too.

“I like the air force,” said Safari, 24, whose hometown is Kabul. “My family was happy and they support me.”

Saleh, too, has her family’s backing.

“My father always said to me, ‘If you’re a woman and you want to do something, you can do this,’ ” she said.

Saleh, 19, said she is ready for her stay in the U.S. because of the training she has received at Thunder Lab.

“Our mentors, they all helped us, they always share their experiences with us and it really helped us,” she said.

Saleh, who grew up in Kabul, hopes she can be an example for other Afghan women.

“We are very happy to be going to open these doors for the other women to come and join the military, to show them you can do this and make our country proud,” she said. “We want for all Afghan girls to know they can do anything.”

‘Kick some rear end’

Since Thunder Lab stood up in May, according to Howard, instructors have seen students’ English comprehension scores jump by 20 percent.

Already, 22 male Afghan officers have come to the U.S. for follow-on training. Seven met the language requirements for pilot training in about two months, compared with the previous average of 13 to 14 months. It took one student only a week.

Howard is confident his female students will do as well in the U.S. as their male counterparts.

“Knowing them, they’ll kick some rear end down there in San Antonio, and I expect them to be done with DLI by July, roll into Fort Rucker sometime in July and that takes a year,” he said. “I expect by late summer 2012, the ladies will be back here in Afghanistan, ready for their qualification training on the helicopters.”

What’s more, Howard said he expects to see more female Afghan officers coming through training at the Thunder Lab.

“If everything works according to plan, we’ll get the next class of female OCS lieutenants, and we’re hoping 10 will join the Afghan air force, and we’re hoping to bring them to the Thunder Lab and make them pilots,” he said.

Before accepting female students, Howard and his team of 16 mentors and instructors — Americans and Brits — surveyed the male Afghan lieutenants to find out how they would adjust to studying with women.

“We wanted to get their opinion, because once you’re in the Thunder Lab, you’re going to be fully integrated, you’re in there together,” Howard said. “We asked the male lieutenants: ‘Are you going to have a problem with this?’ I’m very proud to say the Afghan males here were very supportive of the idea. It’s been fantastic.”

From the beginning, the women have taken part in every aspect of Thunder Lab, Howard said.

“The ladies do [physical training] with us, they do classrooms with us, they’re in the flight simulators with the fellas,” he said, “and they’re doing a great job.”