Mohammad Radmanish, a defense ministry spokesman, said the government hoped that her request would be denied by U.S. authorities who have spent billions trying to build up Afghan security forces.

"When an officer complains of insecurity and is afraid of security threats, then what should ordinary people do?" he said. "She has made an excuse for herself, but we have hundreds of educated women and female civil right activists who work and it is safe for them."

Capt. Rahmani, who graduated from flight school in 2012 and qualified to fly C-208 military cargo aircraft, had been in the United States on a training course and had been due to return home on Saturday.

In a conservative country notorious for the restrictions placed on women, Rahmani's story stood out as a rare example of a woman breaking through in areas normally reserved for men.

Her success came at a price, however. The citation for the "Women of Courage" award said she and her family had received direct threats not just from the Taliban but also from some relatives, forcing her family to move house several times.

However, there was little sympathy on Afghanistan's active social media networks, which were replete with comments criticizing Rahmani, accusing her of wasting government money spent on expensive training and avoiding her responsibilities.

"Niloofar Rahmani took a million dollars from the pockets of the people of Afghanistan to pay human traffickers to get to America to seek asylum," one ******** user wrote in comments typical of others.

Dozens of Afghan troops receiving training in the United States have gone missing over the past two years, and at least one has been detained while trying to cross the border to Canada.