Fmr. Afghan pilot warns of potential violence against women by Taliban

August 19, 2021 carleyshaffer1 US 0

TO GO WITH AFGHANISTAN-UNREST-WOMEN-AVIATION BY ANUJ CHOPRA In a picture taken on April 26, 2015, Afghanistan's first female pilot Niloofar Rahmani, 23, sits in a fixed-wing Afghan Air Force aviator aircraft in Kabul. With a hint of swagger in her gait, Afghanistan's first female pilot since the ouster of the Taliban is defying death threats and archaic gender stereotypes to infiltrate an almost entirely male preserve. AFP PHOTO / SHAH Marai (Photo credit should read SHAH MARAI/AFP via Getty Images)

In a picture taken on April 26, 2015, Afghanistan’s first female pilot Niloofar Rahmani, 23, sits in a fixed-wing Afghan Air Force aviator aircraft in Kabul. (SHAH MARAI/AFP via Getty Images)

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UPDATED 5:58 PM PT – Wednesday, August 18, 2021

The first female pilot in Afghan Air Force history warned of the dangers of a Taliban-ruled state, asserting women will suffer the most. Niloofar Rahmani, 29, made the harrowing prediction during an interview this week. She added that she doesn’t believe the Taliban will maintain their promise to respect the rights of women there.

The former Afghan pilot escaped from Afghanistan in 2015 after garnering acclaim worldwide, which led to scrutiny and death threats from the Taliban. Rahmani now says the Taliban sees the U.S. departure as a golden opportunity to control the entire nation.

“All of a sudden, they’re seeing these evils in the city and they’re just waiting for America to evacuate completely,” said Rahmani. “And then they’ll know that Afghanistan is completely under their control and they’ll start the violence and laws, and it’ll be the same laws they had 20 years ago, maybe even stronger.”

A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty saloon with images of women defaced using a spray paint in Shar-e-Naw in Kabul on August 18, 2021. (Photo by Wakil KOHSAR / AFP) (Photo by WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

A Taliban fighter walks past a beauty saloon with images of women defaced using a spray paint in Kabul on August 18, 2021. (WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images)

The terrorist group promised to honor women’s rights with Sharia Law amid a violent takeover of the city, but has since reportedly killed a woman for simply going out of her home without a burqa.