According to the Indian media outlet Republicworld website reported on January 19, the US Pentagon has not yet made a final decision on the former Afghan Air Force aircraft parked in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, but they are likely not to be sent back to Afghanistan.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said at a news conference on Tuesday (Jan. 18) local time that he had no update on the matter and no decision on how to handle the matter for the former Afghan Air Force planes parked in neighboring countries, but one thing is certain that the stranded planes will not be returned to Afghanistan for use by the Taliban.
Former air force pilots who fled Afghanistan last August flew the planes to neighboring countries, where the Afghan Taliban had earlier demanded that Uzbekistan and Tajikistan return the planes. Mohammed Jacob Mujahid, defense minister of afghanistan's interim government, said in Kabul last week that the Afghan side would not allow the planes to remain in neighboring countries and be used by others.
Last year, during the offensive of the Afghan Taliban, former Afghan Air Force pilots and their families trained by the United States flew to Uzbekistan in more than 40 aircraft, including A-29 light attack aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters, According to Indian media reports.
Indian media said that before the Afghan Taliban occupied Afghanistan, the former Afghan Air Force had 164 active military aircraft, but now only 81 are left.
In early September, Uzbek officials said hundreds of Afghan pilots and their families had been deported for illegally entering Uzbekistan on military aircraft. The Afghans were reportedly transferred to U.S. military facilities in the United Arab Emirates at the time as part of an agreement between Washington and Uzbekistan that would house more than 450 Afghans.
(Editor: LH)