KABUL, Afghanistan — From a childhood as a refugee, Capt. Safia Ferozi is now flying a transport plane for Afghanistan’s air force as the country’s second female pilot, a sign of the efforts to bring more women into the armed forces.

Along the way, the 26-year-old Ferozi also married another pilot, who flies in the same unit supporting army ground forces. They are part of a small Afghan air force that is trying to take a greater role in fighting the Taliban insurgency.

“When I wear military uniform, I really, really feel proud of myself as a woman,” Ferozi said while preparing for a flight at the air force base in the capital, Kabul. She flies a C-208, a turboprop plane used as transport for the armed forces.

Nearly 16 years since the collapse of the militant Taliban regime after the US-led invasion in 2001, Afghan women are taking steps to increase their presence in society, including in parliament, government and the military. Still, they face resistance in a deeply conservative society where women are largely expected to stay in the home and where violence against women remains a widespread problem.

When she was a child, Ferozi’s family fled from their home in Kabul in the 1990s, during the civil war among Afghanistan’s warlords. They took refuge in Pakistan, returning only after the fall of the Taliban.