Like a professional, learner driver Gazar Barlas, 19, checks the gauges in her car including the oil and water while sitting behind the wheel of her car in Afghanistan's northern Jauzjan province.

Decked out in jeans and jumper, the young stylish Barlas told Xinhua recently that she sees no difference in terms of driving talent between men and women in Afghanistan.

However, she said discrimination in the conservative society has subdued women's willingness to flaunt their ability.

"I have the talent to learn to drive a car one day like men in the city," an ambitious Barlas told Xinhua.

Barlas is one of the 35 young girls and women who have been learning to drive at a driving school over the past six weeks.

"After completion of the two-month driving course here in the Shiberghan city, I will have a certificate which will help me to pass the driving test conducted by the traffic police," she went on to say.

Women driving cars in some developed countries, even in Afghanistan's immediate neighboring countries of Pakistan and Iran is common, but in conservative Afghanistan where tribal traditions still exist and are deep rooted in the countryside, driving is regarded as a taboo.

Nevertheless, progressive women like Barlas have been fighting to break all traditional barriers and bringing the status of Afghan women on the same par with their male counterparts in society.

"My dream is to fight discrimination against women and prove the fact that women like men can drive, can serve as soldiers and take part in social and economic activities in society," Barlas told Xinhua.

Afghanistan has made tangible progress in different fields including women's rights since the collapse of the Taliban reign in late 2001.

Women in post-Taliban Afghanistan are involved in business, art, politics, and such like, although militants loyal to the hardliner Taliban outfit and the Islamic State group have been fighting to regain the power to confine women to their houses.

Backed by the traffic police, the two-month driving course encourages both men and women to learn how to drive and respect the rules of the road and general driving regulations.

Guided by a traffic police on how to drive, Barlas admitted, "I don't like to be ordered by others to stay at home."

Barlas' classmate at driving school, Sumeera Ghaznawi, 22, is also determined to drive her own car one day after completion of the course.

"It has been my dream for a long time to have my own car and drive to the office, home and to other places wherever and whenever I need to," Ghaznawi told Xinhua.

Ghaznawi who is a university student and women's rights activist in the relatively peaceful Shiberghan province told Xinhua that she has already become familiar with traffic rules and the feeling of driving.

Female drivers are rarely seen in Kabul and other cities actively driving, even though the Taliban's rule was dismissed 14 years ago.

"Thank god my parents have no problem with me driving and I'd like to see more women drive in the city without discrimination in the future," Ghaznawi said optimistically.

(Xinhua)