Frontline females: Unlocking the world of Afghan women

KABUL, AFGHANISTAN

01.21.2010

Courtesy Story

ISAF Joint Command

KABUL, Afghanistan — It's a scene that has played itself out countless times across the country. A team of soldiers passes through a doorway into a room. Women and children stare back at them. Their eyes seem to show resignation, if not indignation, at the intrusion into their homes.

But this time it is different.

As the women and children look at these particular service members, they see something unexpected looking back at them: women.

"We came along to search any females, to reassure them of coalition forces' good intentions," said Captain Karolyn Miller, commander of headquarters company, 97th Military Police Battalion.

Miller and her four-woman team are currently deployed to Camp Nathan Smith in Kandahar.

"We've modelled ourselves after the female engagement teams the Marines have in Helmand province," she said. "Women and children felt a lot more comfortable when forces were coming through, if they saw females there."

Miller's female engagement team conducted its second mission Jan. 10 in Rajan Qala village in the Arghandab river valley. They were assisting Afghan National Police, U.S. and Canadian forces with a coalition effort to clear the area of improvised explosive devices and establish a presence in the community.

Canadian Corporal Melissa Gagnon worked with the team for the day.

"They actually smiled when we came in," she said. "It seems like there may not have been women here before."

Coalition forces are building bonds with the women and children in the villages because these children are the future of Afghanistan, Miller said. In many ways, she said, Afghan parents are like parents everywhere.

"I think they want what is good for their children, too," she said. "We talk to them as much as we can about education, making sure their children go to school so they have opportunities other than joining up with gangs or the insurgency when they grow up."

Cultural differences can make searching Afghans a difficult task. Male coalition soldiers must be careful to respect Afghan culture. Afghan women are often only seen by family members. They don't leave their homes and must cover their faces so no man but their husband can see them, Miller said.

As with any culture, women should always search women, said Specialist Rebecca Gutknecht of 97th Military Police Battalion.

"It's disrespectful and rude for males to go in to search females, so most of the time they skip that," she said. "Without a female search team, the locals are more likely to hide stuff in the females' rooms where they know males aren't going to enter."

In the future, Miller would like to take the female engagement team on a joint operation with female ANP officers in Kandahar City. That way the ANP women can communicate directly with their Afghan sisters, she said.

At the end of the day, the female engagement teams are about more than just searching women for explosives, they're about building trust with the other half of the population.

"They can look into the face of another woman and hopefully know that everything is going to be alright," said Captain Miller.

• Date Taken: 01.21.2010
• Date Posted: 01.21.2010 10:24
• Story ID: 44220
• Location: KABUL, AF