In a primitive land where women have been suppressed for centuries, the U.S. military and NATO are trying to change that. Jack Kem, a top NATO trainer, said he and his team are trying to bring “gender mainstreaming” into Afghan society. That’s a stiff challenge, given this story by TIME’s Aryn Baker last year.
Kem, on leave from the U.S. Army’s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kans., told bloggers at the Pentagon via satellite Wednesday that key goals include boosting the number of women in Afghanistan’s colleges, police and military. “Our impact is potentially far-reaching for the Afghan society,” he said.
Three recent surveys have shown Afghan society becoming more comfortable with the notion of women serving in roles previously off limits to them. “Each of those polls consistently shows there is support in the Afghan population for girls and women going to school and being able to work,” he said.
Afghan women train to become border police / DoD photo
“There are some differences in the south, where there’s a more conservative attitude, but across the board, the majority of the Afghan population supports girls and women being able to go to work and being able to go to school, and I think that’s very significant.” The south, of course, is Pashtun country, home of the Taliban, which barred girls from going to school before the U.S. toppled it in the post-9/11 invasion.
There are roughly 1,100 women among the 100,000-strong national police force, but Kem says that should increase to 5,000 as the force grows to about 150,000 over the next several years. “The numbers are small,” Kem said. But “we’re trying to do it in such a way that are irreversible.”