Kabul: Contending that her “life isn’t at risk at all,” military officials in Afghanistan have asked that the United States reject the asylum case of Capt. Niloofar Rahmani, the first female fixed-wing pilot in the Afghan air force.
On Thursday, Rahmani revealed she had applied for asylum this summer, saying she felt unsafe in Afghanistan, where she and her family have received death threats. For the past 15 months, she has been training at airbases in Arkansas, Florida and Texas.
Rahmani said that her Afghan male colleagues in the air force treated her with contempt and that she felt at risk.
“Things are not changing” for the better in Afghanistan, Rahmani said in an interview Friday. “Things are getting worse and worse.”
Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, a Defence Ministry spokesman, disputed her claims of being in danger.
“I am sure she lied by saying she was threatened, just to win the asylum case,” Radmanish said Sunday. “It is baseless that she claimed her life was at risk while serving in the Afghan air force.”
“Since Capt. Rahmani’s claim is new, we expect her to change her mind and return to her own country and continue serving as a pilot,” the general said. “We request from our American friends and government to reject her asylum case and send her back, because knowing the truth, Capt. Rahmani’s life isn’t at risk at all.”
The US government has celebrated Rahmani as an example of its success in advancing women’s rights in Afghanistan. In 2015 the State Department honoured her with its annual Women of Courage award, and Michelle Obama praised her courage.
In Afghanistan, few supported her decision, and there were worries that her asylum request would affect the process of training Afghan pilots outside the country.
“Capt. Rahmani’s claim that she was harassed in the workplace is not true, because in the air force all the pilots and staff are well-educated and highly trained people,” said Col. Ayan Khan, a helicopter pilot in the Afghan air force. “How can they harass their female colleague who serves alongside them?”
