Over the past two years, Pakistan has led the region in sending female officers to the United States for specialized military training.
[Islamabad] According to a report by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, over the past decade, Pakistan has seen a 150 percent surge in the number of female officers receiving military training in the United States.
“Since 2013, there has been a significant increase in the participation of Pakistani female military personnel in the International Military Education and Training Programme (IMET),” the report said.
The State Department-sponsored program aims to foster military relations between partner nations by funding overseas military students to attend American military training and education courses.
The report further stated, “From 2020 to 2023, 55 women have taken the IMET course, more than double the 22 participants from 2013 to 2019. Moreover, Pakistan has been the top country in the region sending female military personnel to courses in the US for the past two years.”
“Pakistani women officers are actively participating in specialized training programs covering a wide range of areas including counter-terrorism, counter-piracy, military justice, information technology, cyber strategy, public affairs, gender-based violence and health-related issues,” the report said.
In Pakistan, these people have proven to be the first raindrops, plunging into military training and educational courses to further their professional development.
“These women are the first drop in Pakistan, plunging into military training and educational courses to further their professional development and lay the foundation for others to follow,” the report said.
The women officers being trained in the US are from various branches of Pakistan’s army, navy and air force.
The Pakistan Army began inducting women as commissioned officers in 1948, followed by the Pakistan Air Force in 1993 and the Pakistan Navy in 1996. Despite facing cultural and societal barriers, Pakistani women have made great strides in the military, breaking gender stereotypes and excelling in a variety of operational and leadership roles.
Female soldiers undergo the same rigorous selection process as their male counterparts when joining the Army, Navy and Air Force, and in training school they face the same rigorous training stages as male officer cadets.
The Army Training Academy is located in Kakul, a city in Abbottabad province, the Air Force Training Academy is located in Risalpur, a city in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, and the Naval Training Academy is located in Karachi.
In 2003, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) launched a new combat program and began training female fighter pilots. By 2006, the first batch of female fighter pilots had joined the PAF’s combat wings.
Currently, there are 34 women pilots in the Pakistan Air Force, including Squadron Leader Ayesha Farooq, who holds the honour of being Pakistan’s first female fighter pilot. She currently serves as the Squadron Lieutenant Commander in the Pakistan Air Force’s fighter squadron.
The Pakistan Navy restricts women from serving in combat roles but allows them to contribute to a variety of other vital sectors, including information technology, engineering, medical, education, logistics and public affairs.
In these roles, many women play vital roles in supporting naval operations, maintaining technical systems, providing medical care, training personnel, managing logistics and handling public affairs.
The Media Line spoke with global experts about women’s empowerment and participation in U.S.-sponsored training programs.
There is no particular agenda behind the report on training women military officers. It is necessary to recognise that global geopolitics has changed along with the nature of warfare and statecraft.
Feroz Hassan Khan, a South Asia expert and former Pakistan Army Brigadier General who teaches at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, told The Media Line: “There is no particular agenda behind the report on training women officers. We need to recognize that global geopolitics has changed along with the nature of warfare and statecraft. Therefore, given the current great power competition, the US needs allies in key regions with comprehensive military training and capabilities across the full spectrum of modern warfare.”
With extensive combat and command experience, including serving in the U.S., Europe and Asia and contributing to nuclear and conventional arms control policies, Khan knows firsthand that today’s wars “extend beyond traditional battlefields to cross-domain operations including emerging technologies, AI and space. War targets people’s hearts and minds, as we’ve seen in the wars between Russia and Ukraine, the Middle East and Armenia and Azerbaijan, which is why both women and men must have equal training opportunities,” he added.
Khan highlighted Pakistan’s shift in its approach to incorporating women into the military beyond traditional roles such as doctors and nurses, noting that while progress has been made, women are still not in combat roles.
He stressed the need for modern training for women in a wide range of roles, including management, communications, artificial intelligence, drone operations and space technology, “where women’s contributions are increasingly valued.”
Most of the IMET program officers are still men. [US] The Democratic-led administration wants to demonstrate to the American people, and especially Congress, its commitment to gender equality, which could help with budget approval.
According to Khan, “Most of the IMET program officers are still men. [US] “A Democratic-led administration wants to demonstrate to the American people, and especially to Congress, a commitment to gender equality that will help with budget approval.”
Khan believes women’s and LGBT rights are big issues, especially in an election year, but “a democratic government wants to demonstrate its support for these rights. Also, Pakistanis don’t have a very good impression of women’s rights and gender issues, and there are very few Pakistani sympathizers in parliament.”
“The State Department needs to demonstrate that IMET funds, which are American taxpayer money, are being used appropriately for a key non-NATO ally and are aligned with the needs of modern warfare,” Khan said.
Irina Zuckerman, a New York-based national security and South Asia expert, told The Media Line: “The training of Pakistani women officers has a range of U.S. interests, and the Biden administration has made gender equality in the military and international cooperation a priority as part of its national security strategy and official policy.”
Zuckerman explained that the training is intended to increase opportunities and inclusivity for Pakistan’s female officers, to better integrate them into the Pakistani military and provide them with additional skills to work with the U.S. and other allies.
“Furthermore, the U.S. government and military believe that increasing the number of women in the Pakistani military will foster reform and liberalization, and make the country’s institutions and society more open and inclusive,” she said.
Zuckerman added: “Washington is looking to modernize the Pakistani military, making it better able to deal with threats and more aligned with U.S. perspectives. This could lead to less corruption, less extremist influence, greater professionalism, and more female empowerment by providing young women with educated, patriotic role models.”
Farhat Asif, a Lahore-based doctoral student and expert in strategic communications, geopolitical studies and analysis, told The Media Line that Pakistan and the U.S. have made great strides in increasing the participation of Pakistani women officers in the IMET program, which he said “signals a positive trend toward gender inclusion and strengthening military capabilities.”
She noted that the aim is to “foster closer cooperation and build military-to-military ties not only within military operational environments but also in peacetime. This cooperation is essential to develop mutual understanding, trust and a common strategy, which can enhance overall security and stability.”
“The inclusion of more Pakistani women officers in this program will increase the strength of women officers within the Pakistan Army,” Asif said, and will improve Pakistan’s military capabilities by providing specialized training in counter-terrorism, cyber strategy and other military legal areas. “This will help address security challenges at both national and regional levels,” she added.
Noureen Akhtar, a PhD student in International Relations at the School of Politics and International Relations (SPIR) at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad, told The Media Line that the women officers’ participation in the IMET programme was “part of Pakistan Army’s efforts to develop the professional competencies of women in the Pakistan Army for various professional roles ranging from management, staff placements to field assignments.”
“The sharp increase in participation of female police officers in the IMET program over the past three years is indicative of the success of the earlier smaller cohort that participated in IMET training,” she noted.
Akhtar, a policy and research consultant at the Islamabad Institute for Policy Studies, said that from the U.S. perspective, the driving force behind the IMET program is “establishing trust between U.S. and Pakistani militaries to build an alliance for the future and enhance interoperability and capabilities for joint operations.”
“The program provides participants with an opportunity to better understand U.S. military culture.” In addition, the participation of Pakistani women in the program “will help female officers [in Pakistan] Women should have equal career opportunities as their male colleagues,” Akhtar concluded.