Taliban Demands Tajikistan, Uzbekistan Return Afghan Aircraft

The Taliban defense minister on Tuesday, demanded Tajikistan and Uzbekistan return military aircraft that were moved to their countries during the chaotic fall of Afghanistan to the militants in August, Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) reported.

Photo Insert: Afghan National Air Corps L-39 Albatross jets

Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid said the Taliban regime will not let those planes and helicopters - which had been used by the previous internationally-backed government - remain in the neighboring countries.

"Do not test our patience and do not force us to retaliate with what is available at our disposal," the highest-ranking Taliban military leader warned in a Kabul speech. "We tolerated a lot, we waited a lot."

He also invited pilots who previously served in the Afghan army to return and serve the new Taliban rulers. At the same event, the Taliban commander of the air force, Amanuddin Mansour, said that the regime has 50 operational military aircraft at the moment and is working to repair others.

When the previous Afghan government fell, dozens of Afghan Air Force (AAF) aircraft were flown to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan by US-trained Afghan pilots. Recently, Taliban spokesman Inamullah Samangani told local broadcaster Tolonews that they were holding talks with authorities of these countries to return the helicopters.

The US spent billions of dollars to train and equip the Afghan Air Force. Before Afghanistan’s collapse, AAF had 131 usable aircraft among the 162 aircraft in its total inventory, according to a report by the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.

The US watchdog reported in October that about 25 percent of the aircraft were flown to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Another 80 aircraft were rendered unusable at the Kabul International Airport prior to the final US departure.

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