A Mission of Empowerment

The women descended from helicopters at night in remote villages. Armed with military gear, members of the Afghan Female Tactical Platoon (FTP) served with American special forces in daring and dangerous raids of Taliban locations during the U.S. War in Afghanistan.

After the United States withdrew its last troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, many of those Afghan FTP soldiers had to flee the country to avoid capture by the Taliban. Through a connection with William & Mary Military & Veteran Affairs advisory group member Fred Caprio ’85, two former platoon members, U.S. Army veteran Rebekah Edmondson and Afghan native Mahnaz Akbari, have developed an ongoing relationship with William & Mary as they transition out of the military.

With support from Caprio and his wife, Rebecca Graninger Caprio ’88, Edmondson and Akbari participated in William & Mary’s Veteran-to-Executive (W&M VET) Flourishing Through Life Transitions certificate program last summer. The program, which has continued for them with twice-monthly virtual sessions, prepares veterans for high-level civilian management positions while emphasizing wellness and self-discovery. Participants also become part of the W&M Association of 1775, a network of alumni who are serving or have served in U.S. government and the military.

During a visit to campus in September, the two women met with students at the Office of Student Veteran Engagement and spoke about their military experiences at a standing-room-only event sponsored by Reves Center for International Studies, W&M VET, the Whole of Government Center of Excellence and the Society of 1918. They also attended a reception in their honor at the Reves Center and met Lida Kharooti Sayeed, a visiting scholar at W&M Law School who previously served as a judge at the Anti- Corruption Justice Center in Afghanistan.

Now, Edmondson and Akbari are working with William & Mary to help other platoon members further their education and transition to civilian careers. Through their newly formed nonprofit, Nxt Mission, they are planning for a cohort of 10 Afghan FTP veterans to participate in the Flourishing certificate program at William & Mary this summer.

“Recognizing them as veterans of the War in Afghanistan is an important aspect of what we are hoping to accomplish,” Edmondson says. “Because they were not born here, they do not have access to the same support and resources as American veterans, despite all they’ve sacrificed for the betterment of this country.”

During the war, the FTP soldiers were able to search, question and provide assistance to Afghan women whose culture prohibited them from interacting with most men. Sometimes platoon members would find key documents or electronic devices that would lead to the whereabouts of Taliban leaders.

Many FTP members kept their service hidden from their families for security reasons and to keep from being targeted by the Taliban. Akbari, a former platoon commander, left home for months at a time and told her family she was working at a hospital in another province.

In Caprio’s former role as board vice chairman of the nonprofit PenFed Foundation, which supports military service members and veterans, he helped more than 40 FTP members flee Afghanistan in 2021 and receive asylum in the United States.

Edmondson and Akbari were among the FTP members who spoke at an event sponsored by the foundation in July 2023 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. At Caprio’s invitation, Kathleen Jabs, W&M’s special assistant to the president for military & veteran affairs, and Jonathan “JD” Due, executive director of the Center for Military Transition at the Raymond A. Mason School of Business, attended the program.

Hearing the women’s stories sparked an interest in bringing them to William & Mary. Their experiences relate to numerous units and fields of study at the university, Jabs says.

“That’s how we see our role in Military & Veteran Affairs,” she says. “In a democracy, the military is part of the society — it’s not a standalone, separate entity. We want to be woven into the fabric of the university.

“When you look at a program like hosting the Afghan FTPs, it’s amazing how many ties there are to William & Mary programs and to the community, and you start to break down that civil-military divide,” she says. “It’s really about human connection and telling stories and understanding people’s experiences.”

Firsthand accounts from people like Edmondson and Akbari bring global events closer to home, says Jabs, who coordinated the arrival of Afghan refugees at military bases in her previous role as Virginia’s acting secretary of veterans and defense affairs.

“The United States was in Afghanistan for a long time doing military operations,” she says. “Now that those are over, it’s important to recognize that there are people who risked their lives to help our service members. We want to help where we can, particularly for those who are here in the United States.”

Over the past few months, Caprio has worked with Edmondson and Akbari to establish Nxt Mission, which assists FTP members with both immediate and long-term needs, and he serves on the organization’s board. A retired insurance company executive and founder of The Caprio Group, he is also an executive partner at William & Mary’s business school and a member of the Annual Giving Board of Directors.

At the September W&M event, Akbari talked about difficulties members of the FTP face in obtaining green cards and reuniting with their families. She hopes to return to Afghanistan one day. “That’s my plan,” she says. “To come back and help my country and my people.”

By serving in the FTP, Akbari sought to improve conditions in Afghanistan. During the platoon’s missions, she says, “I saw the poverty. I saw the situation of women. I saw a lot of things that really affected me.”

Both she and Edmondson consider the FTP a symbol of empowerment for women, whose status in Afghan society was — and is again — severely restricted under Taliban rule.

“I once thought there would be no greater honor than to have worked alongside these women in Afghanistan,” Edmondson says. “That feeling remains today watching them become leaders, here in the U.S., as they were in their homeland.”