US Army Female Engagement Teams: Professionalizing the Training and Looking Forward.

摘要

Long oppressed by tribal culture, war, and the Taliban, the women of Afghanistan are beginning to make positive progress. Afghan women, after years of being denied basic freedoms, are more receptive to assistance from coalition forces that recognize the importance of including the other 50 percent of the population. The culture of rural Afghanistan does not allow male Soldiers to speak to female Afghans; thus, Female Engagement Teams (FETs) have a unique role in reaching these women and increasing their self-worth through education and small business opportunities. This allows Afghan women to use that increased self-worth to positively influence the male members of their families. Family pressure can identify those males who are involved in the insurgency, exert pressure to stop male family members from supporting the insurgency, and provide them with alternatives to participating in the insurgency, such as accepting microloans to start small businesses. History has shown that Afghanistan is not a country that functions well with a strong central government. The strategic goal of a stable Afghanistan will have to be reached one village at a time. This project explores how the FET effort has grown from an ad hoc group of female Soldiers assisting with searches to something close to U.S. military doctrine. However, the Army needs to put more emphasis on proper staffing, training, and employment of the teams to ensure that they meet their strategic goals. Finally, the Army must begin to institutionalize FETs for future contingencies.