For the first time ever, Afghan female military officers to train in India

As women are major contributors to the Indian society, they are capable of accomplishing with utter dedication, determination and hard work. History reveals that Indian women rise to the occasion whenever the need has arisen – be it the legends Rani Lakshmibai or Razia Sultan who ruled and protected the state of Jhansi and Delhi Sultanate respectively with honour and courage. Again, our women’s gave a proud moment for Indians and honour them. In a first, Indian Army will train a bunch of Afghan women military personnel at Officers Training Academy in Chennai. These women officers have been chosen from different provinces and represent all the dominant ethnicities of the country. The bunch of Afghan women officers include 17 women from the Army, 3 from the Air Force, few from the Special Forces and others from the strategic and public affairs, medical, education, intelligence, finance departments and law in the Afghan Ministry of Defence. As per one of the leading media portal, India has trained approximately over 4,000 Afghan military and security personnel, but the training program will be a first for women. The Afghan army is focusing to hike its female personnel to 10 percent of the force. According to the data, until August there were approximately 4,500 women in the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces, which includes 1,200 in the Army and 100 in the Air Force. The Special Inspector General of U.S has come across with a number of problems that prevent maximum women from joining the ANDSF and national police force, including cultural stigmas, illiteracy, and high attrition rates. Since the downfall of Taliban, India gave Afghanistan over $ 2 billion for development, infrastructure and reconstruction. India has also provided 4 Mi-25 attack helicopters to the Afghan Air Force. Now, this becomes a tremendously proud moment for every Indian and salute to our Indian Army Women’s.