Cementing India-Afghanistan ties, Afghan National Army's women officers undergo training in Chennai - See pics

Indian army officials training Afghanistan's women officers.

Chennai: In line with India’s policy of aiding stable, peaceful development of friendly, neighboring countries, the country provides financial, infrastructural, military and medical aid among others. The Indian Army is playing a significant role in such efforts by offering holistic training to cadets and officers who are part of Foreign armies. As a part of a 6-week training course, 20 Women from the Afghan National Army have been training at the Army Officer’s Training Academy in Chennai, in the Southern Indian State of Tamil Nadu. 

The women officers have served the Afghan Army anywhere between two and seven years, in the logistics, Human resources, Radio communications and medicine branches. At the OTA in Chennai, they will be trained to hone their weapons handling, tactical, communication, military administration abilities among others. The Indian Army has been conducting such special training for their Afghan women counterparts since 2017 and the current batch is the fourth in four consecutive years. 

According to the International Community, empowerment of Afghan women is key to solving many of the war-torn country’s long-standing woes. The Afghan Defence establishment and several foreign bodies working towards the progress of Afghan society had charted ambitious goals for women in their forces. It was planned to have 10% women’s representation in Afghan Security forces by 2020, but the government and security establishment couldn’t get anywhere close. Recent reports say that there are about 4,500 in Afghan forces, which constitutes 1.4% of their total strength. 

So, it was decided to relax the deadline and lofty target. From 10% women representation in security forces, they’ve now stepped down and the new target is 5,000 women in the Army and 10,000 women in the Police, by 2025. 

However, the serious impediments to women empowerment are the violence and discrimination faced by progressive women, which is only made worse by male-dominant institutions and systems. 

Estimates suggest that 80% of Afghan women are illiterate, while some may manage to read, they do so without a formal education. But, even when the education system improves and more women are empowered, society and the establishment must make way for them to be accepted in larger roles and responsibilities.