The Ministry of Defense (MoD) on Thursday said it has enforced a special salary scale and other incentives for female recruits to encourage more women to join the ranks of the Afghan National Army (ANA).

MoD spokesman Dawlat Waziri said that more than 400 female recruits are in training at the Defense Ministry institutions currently.  

“There are 5,000 positions for female recruits in the national army. We have introduced two categories of posts which are only allocated for women. In case a male officer is employed in the post, we immediately terminate his job and introduce a female officer for it,” he said.

According to the MoD, over 30 women are in training at the National Military Academy, 62 women at the ANA Officers Academy, 143 women at Malalai Military School and another 109 female recruits are in training in Turkey.

Also, many female recruits and officers are studying at private universities with funds provided by the Defense Ministry, the MoD said.

Meanwhile, Nazifa Zaki, member of Wolesi Jirga’s (Lower House of Parliament) internal security commission criticized discrimination against women in the ranks of the Afghan security forces.

“Salaries and other allowances which are paid to men are not paid to women,” Zaki said.

According to the MoD, 1,575 out of 195,000 female soldiers are serving in the ranks of the ANA.

A female soldier, Zahra Kazimi, meanwhile raised her concerns over the discriminatory approach against female recruits among security forces.

“Those who have relations [with senior officials] are promoted two to three grades higher than others. Even they do not know how to deal with the system. We tried a lot, but no one heard our voice,” Kazimi stated.

Zahra, who joined the ANA 10 years ago, said she never left her job despite pressure from her family.

“I received threat letters from Taliban many times and I was ambushed twice, but I did not leave my job. My in-laws also threatened me not to join the army,” Zahra added.