35 Pakistani Women The Taliban in Basic Training
Autumn Barr
Female commandos have been recruited by local police forces in The Pakistani Province, Khyber Pakhtunkwha to join the war against the Taliban.
This part of the country is considered to be an extremely conservative part of the country, recruiting the young women into the military goes strictly against tradition. Women are meant to stay in the home, working outside the home is an outrageous enough, but these women are defying their ancient traditions to become elite female commandos.
“Our Holy Quran teaches us this: It’s the duty of every human being to serve,” explains Gul Nisa, Commando Trainee “and it is an obligation of every Muslim to protect other Muslims.”
These women over six months are being trained to be the best, their training consists of long days in extremely high temperatures, as high as 122 degrees while remaining fully covered. Every day the women awake at 5 a.m. and train until 11 p.m, learning how to protect their home, they are being taught basic police duties, complete inspections and how to use anti-tank and anti-aircraft launchers.
“Commando means working at any moment in any environment and in any situation, … After getting this training I can face any type of situation anywhere at any time,” she said.
The recruitment of women into the military in Khyber Pakhtunkwha, is the result of the local government following suit from other provinces in drafting women to help fight the battle against terrorism in the Pakistan. The nationwide battle has claimed more than 50,000 lives over the past 13 years, and 1,100 police in the province alone.
The new female recruits were nervous about how well they’d perform in the camps, the training is difficult and requires a lot of commitment and endurance.
“We had heard from people about commando training and that’s why we were nervous when we arrived here at the academy,” 23-year old Mehreen said. “But … we realized that nothing is impossible or difficult in this world if there is a commitment.”
Women commandos are especially valuable to the military they allow for home searches, and inspection of women that don’t offend the family’s honor. Respect of women in the Pakistani Army is something that is unknown, the military programs consists mainly of men who all follow traditional Muslim customs. The women all train and live separately from the men, and rare socializing for the men and women, they must always be dressed conservatively, and cover their faces.
After this training, I don’t see any difference between male and female,” Mehreen. “It gave us extra courage and bravery.”
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