With a hint of swagger, Afghanistan's first female military pilot since the fall of the Taliban is defying death threats and the local gender norms to infiltrate what is almost entirely a male preserve. Dressed in khaki overalls, aviator shades and a black headscarf, 23-year-old Niloofar Rahmani cuts a striking presence as she walks across the tarmac at the Kabul air force base, otherwise devoid of women."Ever since I was a child, when I saw a bird in the sky, I wanted to fly," she said at the base."Many girls in Afghanistan have dreams ... but a number of problems, threats, stand in the way."Rahmani, who grew up in Kabul, enlisted in an air force training programme in 2010 but kept it secret from her relatives, who believe a woman does not belong outside the home.Two years later she became the first female fixed-wing military aviator in Afghanistan's history, and the country's first woman pilot since the ousting of the Taliban regime. The once-unimaginable feat recently won her the US State Department's International Women of Courage Award - and earned her the sobriquet "Afghan Top Gun" on social media, a reference to the 1986 Tom Cruise film about flying aces in the US Navy. It is believed there were female Afghan pilots in the pre-Taliban communist era but details are scant.Nearly 14 years since the Taliban government was toppled in a US-led invasion, Afghan women have taken giant strides, with female lawmakers and security personnel now commonplace.Previously women were not allowed to leave their home without a male chaperone and were brutally consigned to the shadows.But gender equality is still a distant dream.Rahmani has received threats, some purportedly from the Taliban, warning her to quit. The threats grew so menacing in 2013 that she was forced to leave the country for two months."They threatened to hurt me and my family," she said."My only choice was to be strong and ignore them."Rahmani always carries a pistol for her protection and, though she has grown accustomed to the ogling eyes of men, she never leaves the base in uniform, lest it make her a target."Simple things like walking in the street, shopping, are no longer possible. My freedom has all gone," she said.But it is the pervasive conservatism that hurts most, with Afghanistan stuck in what many deride as a medieval time warp.Rahmani says she was heartbroken when a mob in Kabul lynched a young woman last month after an amulet seller, whom she had castigated, falsely accused her of burning the Koran.The daylight murder sparked nationwide protests."This wasn't done by the Taliban. These were ordinary people, the young Afghan generation."Rahmani recalled defying the order of a superior to stop airlifting wounded soldiers.Women are forbidden by tradition from transporting the dead or wounded in Afghanistan.Upon completing the task "I told my commander, 'Punish me if you think I did anything wrong'," she recalled. "He smiled and said: 'You did well'."I have to be tough - so tough, showing no emotion," she said.But Rahmani takes care to respect cultural norms in a country known for its strict gender segregation.In Afghanistan, even a simple gesture such as a handshake between men and women can be interpreted as a sign of bad character. ..