Afghanistan’s first female pilot paid a steep price for the freedom to fly
When Niloofar Rahmani was a teenager in Afghanistan, she confided in her best friend that she wanted to be a pilot someday. Her friend laughed, replying that “In Kabul, the only things that fly are pigeons and the Americans.” The response was understandable: It was only a few years after 9/11, and while the Taliban were no longer in power and Rahmani was finally attending school along with other neighborhood girls, women were still treated like second-class
