Female Engagment Teams Winning Hearts and Minds in Afghanistan

The many cultures in Afghanistan have one thing in common: They shelter their women from the outside world. In order to reach the "hidden" 50 percent of the Afghan population, NATO and U.S. forces in that country have adopted a strategy used successfully in Iraq, the female engagement team (FET). The Marine version of the program was called "Lioness" training.

The concept is simple: Use women from the allied militaries to interact with Afghan women, search them, provide medical treatment and just listen to their problems. I was part of an interview held Dec. 7, 2010, with U.S. Army Col. Chadwick W. Clark, director of the COIN Training Center - Afghanistan, NATO Training Mission - Afghanistan (NTM-A) / Combined Security Transition Command - Afghanistan (CSTC-A) on the topic of the FET. Joining him was Marine Colonel Sheila Scanlon as the subject matter expert.

There are 40 female engagement teams in Afghanistan, each with at least two women. Clark told us that all the Americans are volunteers, and that other countries also have such teams working in the country. The Kingdom of Jordan has two teams, and Norway and Sweden each have one team, all working in the northeast.

The training for the FET volunteers varies by military service and by where they will be operating. In the south, where much of the fighting has been taking place, the women undergo a four-month program that not only covers basic skills for engaging Afghan women but also covers combat skills in case they are needed. In January, a unified training program for FET participants will be rolled out so that all the members will receive the same training.

The volunteers for this program come from all areas of the military, with a wide variety of skill sets. Col. Scanlon told us that the Marines do not have a military occupational specialty (MOS) for the FETs. Col. Clark suggested that the services may develop a skill-identifier that women from the program would earn, similar to airborne training or another military skill.

The teams operate at the task force level and, according the Clark, are kept in the same geographic area as much as possible so that relationships with the Afghans can be built. The colonel told us that the teams are distributed as follows: 17 in Regional Command Southwest, five in the South, 11 in the East, six in the North and one in the West. Two teams are working in hospitals in Bagram.

Col. Clark said the demand for female engagement teams far exceeds the supply. His group is concentrating on recruitment, standardized training and finding ways that participation in an FET can be recognized on the service member's record so it is a benefit to their military career.