Vital Women's Work in Afghanistan

So much of what’s being done by U.S. troops in Afghanistan isn’t bullets and bombs. Here’s a fascinating peek at one of the most important of those so-called “non-kinetic” endeavors — the deployment of female Marines to help and befriend Afghan women. Because Afghan society frowns upon their women talking to men outside their families, the Female Engagement Teams are a key tool to win over skeptical Afghan mothers and wives. Rebecca Sell, an Ohio filmmaker who also teaches at Ohio University, recently spent three weeks with several FET members in Helmand Province, letting her camera capture these distaff Marines grappling with two distinct cultures: Afghan and Marine.