Zahra Rasa Oral History

title:

Zahra Rasa Oral History

creator:

Rasa, Zahra (1985 January 6 -

subject:

Female Tactical Platoon (FTP)

description:

Zahra Rasa was born on January 6, 1985 in Sar-e Pol, Afghanistan and lived in several other cities in Afghanistan throughout her life. She served in the Female Tactical Platoon (FTP) as part of Operation Enduring Freedom from 2012 to 2020. She joined the FTP because she was interested in working with other people and in peace efforts, and the FTP allowed her to do that. Training to be in the FTP involved physical training and learning search and protection practices that would be used on missions. Her position in the FTP was with both the Afghan and American militaries. Her responsibility on missions was to protect women and children at the site, and to be responsible for searching and questioning them. She remembers that the early stages of training were quite hard for her, and she thought about leaving, but she stuck through it because she didn't think returning home would help her. She worked with the US military's Cultural Support Team (CST) while an FTP, and the CSTs would provide support on missions when the FTPs were the point people for searching women. He family didn't approve of her working with the US military at first, but it grew on them and they were quite proud of Zahra's service as it continued on. She remembers having a mixed reception among Afghan people when they'd be on missions, with some people hostile to the idea of her serving in the military as a woman, while others were more accepting of it and didn't think it was a big deal or an issue at all. She remembers when Kabul was taken by the Taliban that the CSTs provided them with support to leave, because everyone involved knew it would be incredibly dangerous for any FTPs who stayed in the country. As they prepared, she didn't even know if she would make it to the airport on time. She also remembers the first time the Taliban had taken control of the country, which she was thinking of the second time around, and she was very scared they'd find and kill her. Her family is still in Afghanistan as of the interview. No transcript of this interview is currently available.

publisher:

Military Women's Memorial Foundation

contributor:

Gill, Dennis

date:

2022-10-07

type:

Moving Image

format:

Born Digital

identifier:

1369; 2022.1369

source:

CST - FTP

language:

English | Dari

relation:

NR

coverage:

Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan)—2001-2014 | 2012-2020

rights:

Unrestricted