Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download MP3
One of the keys to success in Afghanistan is winning the hearts and minds of the local population, and female Marines are playing a critical part. The World’s Katy Clark tells us about the role of Female Engagement Teams.

Read the Transcript
This text below is a phonetic transcript of a radio story broadcast by PRI’s THE WORLD. It has been created on deadline by a contractor for PRI. The transcript is included here to facilitate internet searches for audio content. Please report any transcribing errors to theworld@pri.org. This transcript may not be in its final form, and it may be updated. Please be aware that the authoritative record of material distributed by PRI’s THE WORLD is the program audio.

MARCO WERMAN: Conducting a successful counterinsurgency campaign in Afghanistan might require a lot more troops and some say more of them should be women. The World’s Katy Clark explains.

KATY CLARK: To say that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been a learning experience for the US military would be an understatement. One of the many aha moments occurred in Iraq back in 2004. That’s when commanders realized they couldn’t have male soldiers searching female Iraqis at the various checkpoints that were springing up around the country. Cultural norms simply wouldn’t allow it. Thus was born the lioness program – a marine core all female search team. The concept of all women military teams was adopted last year in Afghanistan. There they’re called female engagement teams. Their mission is somewhat different from Iraq’s says former army officer Paula Broadwell.

PAULA BROADWELL: They are operating exclusively with a mandate of winning hearts and minds and they do that through sipping tea and providing basic services like meeting hygiene needs and medical needs for women in these tribal villages. And the women invited them back and they feel safer than when a male soldier comes into their village.

CLARK: Broadwell who’s now with Harvard Center for Public Leadership says an effective counterinsurgency involves more than just winning hearts and minds. It’s a combination of kinetic force, stuff like killing the enemy, and non-kinetic force, building bridges and schools and the like. She says that often means taking advantage of the different strengths men and women in uniform may bring to the fight.

BROADWELL: More men in the military are focused on the kinetic aspects. Women have been generally more focused on the non-kinetic aspects and I draw that data by looking at the number of women who are involved in academic research on peacekeeping, on nation building, and so forth versus the number of men who typically gravitate towards harder topics that are more focused on conventional warfares.

CLARK: Broadwell says besides when more than half the population you’re trying to win over is female it just makes sense to use the women on your team as effectively as possible. Cultural norms not withstanding, a female marine might be more likely to understand how best to relate to an Afghan woman than a male marine. Lory Manning runs The Women in the Military Project at the Women’s Research and Education Institute in Washington. She supports the idea of putting more female engagement teams in Afghanistan.

LORY MANNING: Those who volunteer these days to serve in the military I think they’re doing it because they want to be where they can make a difference and that’s certainly one of the places where they can be.

CLARK: But Manning points out that the military isn’t training enough linguists in the local Pashtun language to make it possible for all women teams to work effectively there. She adds that federal law still prohibits women from serving in front line combat positions. And walking around Taliban infested villages making friends with the locals certainly qualifies as combat duty. For The World this is Katy Clark.

Copyright ©2009 PRI’s THE WORLD. All rights reserved. No quotes from the materials contained herein may be used in any media without attribution to PRI’s THE WORLD. This transcript may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, without prior written permission. For further information, please email The World’s Permissions Coordinator at theworld@pri.org.