In the heart of the violent birthplace of the Taliban movement, defying Afghan convention and family advice, mothers Magola and Faranaze decided to take up arms.
From the southern province of Kandahar, they are among a handful women who have swapped the full Islamic veils known as burqas for life in uniform as members of Afghanistan’s under-strength police force. “My parents don’t like me to work for the police but I am happy to serve my country,” said Magola, proudly wearing her blue uniform at the camp where she has been trained by US-led Nato forces.
Magola and Faranaze are not their real names. Afghanistan is a country where strict Islamic beliefs and conservative convention prohibit most women from working. Out of a thousand recruits, the police in Kandahar have only 20 women.
Widowed during the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, Magola confided that she needed her police salary to feed her family. She has 12 children and six are still dependent on her. Like most Kandahari women, female officers wear burqas off duty. But at work, wearing scarves or hoods with their uniforms, women perform essential roles in areas that remain off limits to men. Female officers are responsible for knocking on doors, and ushering women away from homes before the police swoop in for operations against suspects. “When the police is searching a compound, they can’t go first. We have to knock on doors, explain why we are here,” she explained. —AFP