Afghanistan’s first female fixed-wing pilot said to be ‘hopeful’ of asylum request in U.S.

By Les Neuhaus

Aviatrix’s attorney calls Afghan government’s threatening reaction a vicious attack.

When Afghan Air Force Capt. Niloofar Rahmani arrived in the U.S. in Dec. 2015 to begin a year-long military training exchange program with the U.S. Air Force to build upon her fixed-wing flying skills, she knew something was off right away.

Her military salary ceased after she arrived in America for her 12-month flight school.

Her pay was simply canceled — with no warning and no official acknowledgement by the Afghan Ministry of Defence, or anyone else in the Afghan government, her attorney, Kimberly Motley, said in an hour-long telephone interview on Thursday, Jan. 12.

It’s been roughly a month since her client officially asked the American government for political asylum following death threats by the Taliban and protests by so-called “activists” in the country’s capital, Kabul, over recent weeks, as reported by media in Afghanistan.

Then came the slap in the face: Gen. Mohammad Radmanish, a spokesman for the Afghan Defence Ministry, said “she lied by saying she was threatened, just to win the asylum case,” according to The New York Times.

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