Death threats towards Afghanistan’s first female pilot.

Imagine receiving death threats from the Taliban for chasing your passion. Imagine that your own family disowned you because you dared to do something different. Imagine if accepting your dream job meant that you had to go into hiding. For Kabul Niloofar Rahmani, this is a reality.

Kabul Niloofar Rahmani was Afghanistan's first female pilot. Image:Indian Times

At the young age of 21, Kabul achieved what almost seemed impossible, she became the first female in Afghanistan to become a fixed-wing military pilot, something she had always dreamed of. However, her dreams of revolutionising gender roles within the Afghani workforce have hit a road block as she receives death threats from not only the Taliban but also from her own extended family.

Now, facing possible death, Capt. Rahmani is starting to think, despite her vigorous passion, that it might not be worth all that she stands to loose.

“I really wanted to be in the military. I really wanted to be in the Air Force,” Capt. Rahmani told Wall Street Journal earlier this week. “But I can’t continue like this.”

After American efforts, amongst other allies, to promote gender equality within Afghanistan many notable changes have occurred. The introduction of female schools has helped to educate the female population, which also lead to many women joining the workforce and now are are even seeing some women who are stepping away from traditional Afghani oppressive culture and shedding their burqas.

Capt. Rahmani says she can't go on like this. Image: Wall Street Journal

Capt. Rahmani’s situation however is a prime example of how these efforts to empower women drastically clash with traditional Afghani cultures can can often end with bloody, or even deadly consequences.

When Capt. Rahmani was 18, in 2011, the Afghani air force started recruiting women. She signed up with full support from her immediate family. While her extended family deemed Rahmani’s actions as a disgrace to her people, her parent and siblings’s support has never wavered, not even at the worst of times.

“Had I known, I would have never put my family through this,” she said. “Despite the situation we are in, they are still supporting me. Sometimes I feel that If I didn’t have their support, I wouldn’t be alive.”

It was 2013 when the threats first started. She was starting to become well known within her community and that’s when the phone calls started. She recalled not being able to understand these calls clearly, as they were not speaking in her native tongue, Dari. However it wasn’t hard to understand the key message that they were trying to tell her, “Quit, or Die.”

“Despite the situation we are in, they are still supporting me. Sometimes I feel that If I didn’t have their support, I wouldn’t be alive.”

It wasn’t just Rahmani that was under threat at this point. Not long after the first initial threatening phone call, Rahmani received a letter on her doorstep during the middle of the night stating that if she wasn’t to follow orders she would be responsible for the death of not just her, but her entire family.

The letter read, “You have not taken our threats seriously” and that she should learn from Malala Yousafzai, who in 2012 stood up to the Taliban in defense of education for females and was shot in the head. Thankfully, she survived this ordeal and continues to fight for female rights and in 2014 became the youngest person to win a Nobel Peace Prize.

Eighteen year old Malala Yousafzi. Image: Biography.com

Out of fear for their lives, Captain Rahmani and her family fled to India and since their return to Afghanistan, they have moved houses every few months to ensure their safety, but the threats haven’t ceased.

The pressure for Rahmani to quit is still burning strong. She says over the last year her brother, Omar, has been attacked by Taliban forces twice. The first was an attempted shooting near his university and the second was a hit-and-run. Her sister, Afsun has been shunned by her husband’s family after she maintained support for her young sister. This lead to a divorce from her husband and a year long separation from her son.

Capt. Rahmani says that one of her initial interests in joining the air force was to fulfill her Father’s dreams. Abdoul Wakil wanted to be a pilot when he was younger, and while for him this dream had not come true, he was so proud to see his daughter living out the career that he had never had the chance to.

Capt. Rahmani stands strong with her decision. Image:Palestine Times

“I never imagined that by becoming a pilot we would face such problems, that we would suffer this much,” Mr. Wakil said.

His daughters notoriety caused Mr. Wakil to loose his job after long term harassment from his colleagues. Mr. Wakil was an engineer and acted as the house holds main breadwinner, so his job loss meant that not only were the family constantly in hiding, but they also had to leave their comfortable life in the past.

So far, the only people to be in the same corner as Rahmani and her family are the US-led coalition, who not only wanted to tell the world her story, but also advocated for her to keep her position in the air force after returning from hiding in India.

Soon, Rahmani’s passion for her job and to the plight of the female experience became noticed world wide with the picture of her in her Kaki uniform and aviators spreading virally through the internet. In March of this year she was awarded an International Women of Courage Award by the U.S Department of State.

These images of Capt. Rahmani in uniform went viral. Image: Bild.de

The U.S Miltary offered to relocate Capt. Rahmani and her family to America for further training. This is something that Rahmani is considering but she also wants to stay and fight for her rights in Afghanistan.

“We should have this right in Afghanistan,” she told The Wall Street Journal. “I decided to join the military to be an example for others.”

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