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All Female Flight Crew In Afghanistan Makes History

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

** And in Afghanistan, an all-female flight crew just made history. In a country where women's rights are hard-fought for, a crew of six flew a Boeing 737 from the capital city of Kabul to Herat on Wednesday. Two pilots and four cabin crew members operated the flight for Kam Air, a privately owned commercial airline. And while the 90-minute flight was short, it represents how far Afghan women have come in the past decade, with female pilots making gradual strides in aviation. Here's 22-year-old captain Mohadese Mirzaee in a video posted on Facebook shortly after graduating from Airworks Aviation Academy, explaining how her mother encouraged her to dream big.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

MOHADESE MIRZAEE: It's like, I cannot sit behind a desk. And I cannot work the same thing every day. So I need something amazing. I need something different every day. I need something challenging. She was like, how about becoming a pilot? Like, is it even possible in Afghanistan? And she told me, there is nothing impossible; everything is possible.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Fly high, ladies.

(SOUNDBITE OF KHRUANGBIN'S "THE INFAMOUS BILL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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