Afghan Women officers nurtured in OTA Chennai

C Shivakumar @ Chennai:

The scars of 20 years ago after Taliban overran Afghanistan is still fresh in the minds of the women officers of Afghanistan as they try to emerge from the shadows of menfolk and try to be combat ready to fight the enemy within.

Interestingly, Chennai’s Officer Training Academy, which has nurtured Indian men and women officers, will play a key role in enhancing the skills of 20 Afghan women officers, some speaking Hindi and English but mostly fluent in Pashtun, during a 20-day training module.

The Afghan women officers, who are serving in army and air force, also belong to special forces in Afghanistan who comb for mines in sensitive areas of Kunduz in Afghanistan.

The women, some in theirs 50s and some in their twenties, covering their head with hijab and wearing the Afghan uniform, try to get acquainted to skills imparted to the cadets which they will later impart to fellow women officers there.

The women, who will undergo training under Physical Training Officer (PTO) Lt Col Eshwar Reddy, an alumni of Rashtriya Military School, Bangalore, will be acquainted with how a cadet churns out into an officer, says Captain Smriti, who is coordinating the entire training programme.

Interestingly, Afghan officers usually undergo training in Pachmarhi in Madhya Pradesh. This is the first time women officers are undergoing training in Officers Training Academy in Chennai, Smriti, an alumni of OTA who was earlier posted in Uri sector, said.

Interestingly, most of the Afghan women officers wanted to know about the combat training offered to Indian women officers. “I have heard about OTA and wanted to attend the training,” says Friba Azzizi, whose father died fighting for the forces of former President Najibullah.

Azzizi, who fled from Kabul to Quetta in Pakistan as a refugee, feels closer to India. “The Pakistanis disliked us and did not treat us fairly,” recalls Friba, who spent her early childhood in the refugee camp.

The 25-year-old, who has three sisters, two brothers, wants to carry up the mantle of her father. Interestingly, most of the Afghan women officers unlike India army officers, had been wearing bangles along with their uniform.

Interestingly, the women are commanded by young officer Haseena Hakimi, a native of Kabul. Haseena has picked up Hindi watching Bollywood movies. The young officer is a fan of Amitabh Bacchan and likes the film Khuda Gawah. Interestingly, Haseena has a stint in Turkey fighting the ISIS, prior to attending the training here. “We want to ensure the security of our nation.,” she says.

Fifty-year-old Lt Col Rebia Ghasin, an anaesthetist in Afghan Army Hospital and a native of Khost, says that Taliban had terrorised the women and they have been brave to withstand the challenge.

Captain Shakina Zahidi, who had fled the Ghazini province after it was overran by Taliban, says that when she was in Kabul her studies were often interrupted by the clashes. At times it was a week’s break or even 10 or 15 days. However, the woman officer made it to technical wing of Adghan Air force and is proud to be selected as one of the 20 officers for the training programme.

Shakina is well versed with firing M-16 gun and has put in seven years in Afghan Air Force