OTA Chennai trains lady officers of Afghan army

In a first, Officers Training Academy, Chennai, is training a group of 20 lady officers of the Afghan army and air force to enhance their skills and help train cadets in Afghanistan.

"Though training sessions have been held in the past to enhance the skills of officers in other areas, this is the first time lady Afghan officers are here for military training," said Captain Samriti, who is acting as an interpreter of Pashto, the official language of Afghanistan, and the coordinator of the programme.

In the 20-day rigorous training module, the officers will be acquainted with basic military orientation including physical training, tactics, communication skills, logistics and leadership. Apart from training them on how to use hand grenades, AK-47s, INSAS (Assault rifle), they also handled ambush situations in mountainous terrain in classroom simulation exercises.

Major Sanjana JR, the instructor for the programme, said it is a capsule programme, which encompasses major features of a one-year training. The training would end on December 23, and the Afghan officers will depart the next day.

The lady officers in the age group of 20 to 45 are determined to fight the repressive Taliban terrorists. Hasina Hakimi, a-21-year-old, said that women in her country were keen to fight the Taliban and all they need is the support. "Even today, Taliban want women to be locked inside their homes and impose all kind of repressive measures on them," she said, speaking in fluent Hindi which she learned from watching Bollywood movies of Amitabh Bachan and Shah Rukh Khan.

Dr Rebia Gharshin, who works as an anaesthetist in the army hospital of Afghan Army, said the hold of Taliban has diminished in the urban areas, but is still strong in the rural parts. She said she studied medicine after the Taliban were ousted from power.

Unlike lady officers in the Indian Army, women in the Afghan army take part in combats.

"Yes. Why not? We should be given a chance in the combat. If Afghan lady officers are serving their nation in the combat, so why not the Indian Army, one of the largest armies in the world, gives us a chance. There are officers who are now flying fighters and inducted as pilots in the Navy and the Air Force. So why not is Indian army taking us in?" Major Sanjana said when asked whether Indian Army should allow women officers in the combat role.

On being allowed to take part in combat, Captain Samriti said the debate has been going on for ages. "It has been the wish of women officers to engage in combat to serve the nation," she said, adding that even though they were directly not involved in the combat roles, they actively engaged in the supportive roles such as intelligence and signals supporting personnel involved in the combat.