Separated from the men of their village in insurgency-hit Uruzgan provinces, the group is being dealt with by the US military's latest improvement in its search for Taliban and Al-Qaeda fighters in Afghanistan -- 12 females in the infantry of the marines.

Young, pretty and toting shotguns, M-16s and pistols on their standard issue military uniforms, the six women assigned to 'C' Company of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit are part of a more culturally sensitive approach to detaining and questioning Afghan women.

As the US military is under fire in Afghanistan and Iraq for the alleged appalling treatment of some detainees, the sight of women searching and guarding Afghan women represents an acknowledgement from the US that what might be culturally acceptable in America does not work in conservative Afghanistan.

Searches of Afghan women by male coalition troops loom prominently among the 44 complaints against the US-led coalition force received by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission received since its formation in late 2001.

"Afghans have their own culture and they don't allow men to search females but during the searches this happens in some cases... and that is something against Afghan culture," commissioner Farid Hamidi said.

Although a man is still present at the interviews because all the interpreters with the unit are men, the 12 women are believed to be the first females to be deployed in combat patrol in the marines infantry in Afghanistan.

The six assigned to 'C' or Charlie company have been handed the call name 'Charlie's Angels' -- not surprising given the commanding officer of the marines in the field, Pakistan-born Lieutenant Colonel Asad Khan, goes by the tag 'Genghis.'

"They called me and said we've got a name for you and I thought 'I hope it's not Barbie,'" recounted Lori Butierries, 21, a hospital medic pulled from the US Navy to join the group.

In the remote villages, devoid of electricity and the most basic elements of modern life, the female marines are something of an oddity where many women rarely leave their homes or take part in public life.

"Generally, they are cooperative," said Second Lieutenant Melanie Scott of the Afghan women.

"But they don't know that we're women until we take off our Kevlars (helmets). They've just never seen females in uniforms, they've never seen women with weapons."

"Two of us smoke and that really gets them," adds specialist Bousquet, 28, from Minnesota.

Perhaps the worst reaction has come from the male marines --one woman found that her ammunition had been hidden around the camp as part of a prank.

"We got a lot of advice before we came out," Bousquet admits. "We were told 'The men have a mission. Stay out of the way'."

"They were shy," says Butierries of the men. "They didn't know how to react. They thought 'What are we going to do with a bunch of females?'

"But they respect you as long as you can hold your own."

The women have won grudging respect as it has become evident they are doing a tough job.

In their first two weeks in the field the women have been assaulted several times and in one case urinated on by a frightened Afghan lady, meanwhile they have not been given the extensive training handed to the men.

Yet after two weeks in the field unable to shower, sleeping in the open and tampon supplies exhausted, 'Charlie's Angels' remain cheerful and confident that they are doing important work.

Settling in for another cold and uncomfortable night in the mountains, they nod as Bousquet says: "Goodnight angels."

WAR.WIRE