Female Afghani pilot flees, dreams of serving in the US Air Force

After becoming the first woman to pilot a fixed-wing jet in the Aghani Air Force, Captain Niloofar Rahmani was forced to flee to the US where she hopes to one day serve her new country.

By RACHEL WOLF
Afghan pilots stand among aircrafts during the Afghanistan Air Force readiness performance program at a military airfield in Kabul (photo credit: REUTERS)
Afghan pilots stand among aircrafts during the Afghanistan Air Force readiness performance program at a military airfield in Kabul
(photo credit: REUTERS)
Capt. Niloofar Rahmani first garnered public attention in 2013 when she became the first woman to pilot a fixed-wing jet in the Aghani Air Force. Photos of her in a khaki flight suit, a black head covering, and thick-rimmed glasses began circulating across the globe and her story went viral.
Despite her accomplishment, her hurdles began when she stepped into the cockpit. Her son could not find work, they were threatened regularly and eventually she had to move to the United States, Buzzfeed News reported. Rahmani could not leave her home in Afghanistan without wearing a niqab to hide her face.
Rahmani now resides in Tampa, Florida, with her sister and father, according to BuzzFeed News. When she filed for asylum in 2016, The New York Times reported that Rahmani was hoping to enlist in the US Air Force, and BuzzFeed reported the same on Saturday, Decemeber 14, 2019.
Though the US granted her asylum in 2018, Rahmani would need to become a citizen in order to serve in the US Air Force, which can take time. Rahmani told BuzzFeed News she is worried that the longer citizenship takes, the more her skills will decline.
Shortly after the US granted Rahmani asylum, she told Fox News that she was worried about her family’s safety and said the Taliban was threatening all of their lives.
The Taliban threatened Rahmani and her family’s safety. At one point the terror group left a letter on the family’s doorstep that read, “You have not taken our threats seriously. If you carry on doing your job, you will be responsible for your destruction and that of your family,” Fox News reported in 2018. It also warned that she “learn from Malala Yousafzai,” a Nobel Prize laureate who was nearly killed for fighting for women’s rights in Pakistan.
However, it did not end with the threats. Rahmani’s brother was shot twice in Kabul, her father lost his job and, according to Fox News’ 2018 report, her sister was banned from seeing her children.
When the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 Rahmani was 10-years-old. She often heard and saw US jets.
“I couldn’t keep my eyes off the sky,” she told BuzzFeed News. “I had never been on a plane. I was so excited by the arc of the jet trails, the noise they made.”
Afghani Air Force doctors repeatedly tried to disqualify her from serving, BuzzFeed News reported.

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At the age of 18 Rahmani, who lived in a country where girls were not even allowed in school, enlisted in the Afghani Air Force.
“It has been always my dream to do this job, be a pilot,” she told the New York Times in 2016. “It made me really proud.”
However, being in the Air Force was not easy. There were constant challenges and there were not even women’s bathrooms, she told BuzzFeed News. Rahmani says her colleagues adding to the hardships, “They always told me I’d fail because I am a woman, and because I am weak I would crash the plane and kill myself,” she told BuzzFeed News.
In 2015, she was awarded the US State Department’s Women of Courage award.
“She continues to fly despite threats from the Taliban and even members of her own extended family,” then-first lady Michelle Obama wrote in a statement.
Rahmani’s sister, Afsoon, is still seeking asylum, according to BuzzFeed News.


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