The Taliban movement, which is in power in Afghanistan, once again addressed Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to return the helicopters flown by Afghan Air Force pilots in August last year, Inayatullah Khwarazami, the Defense Ministry's spokesman, said about this, TOLOnews.
"The helicopters are the property of the Afghan people. They should be returned to the current government, to the Ministry of Defense,” he said.
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At the same time, according to some Afghan analysts, it will be impossible to get back the helicopters until the Taliban government is recognized by the international community.
"Regarding the helicopters that were taken out of the country, there are a number of issues. First of all, I am not sure that the documentation of these helicopters is related to Afghanistan. The second issue is the issue of the Taliban government, which is not recognized by any country," said Fahim Kohdamani, former diplomat of Afghanistan in Tajikistan.
In August of last year, when the Taliban were occupying Afghan cities, government air force pilots flew to Uzbekistan in about 50 helicopters and planes. In addition, a part of the air fleet was flown to Tajikistan.
According to the representative of the US Ministry of Defense, Army Major Rob Lodevik, as of August 21 of last year, there were 46 aircraft in Uzbekistan and 18 in Tajikistan.
At the end of April, the special representative of the President of Uzbekistan on Afghanistan, Ismatulla Irgashev, said that the government of Uzbekistan does not plan to return the military aircraft that crossed the country's border from Afghanistan, as they are the property of the United States.
Irgashev said that the US government paid for the military aircraft and were temporarily handed over to the Afghan military forces. The former government did not spend a single dollar on these planes.
On August 16, 2021, the General Prosecutor's Office of Uzbekistan reported about 22 military planes and 24 helicopters with 585 Afghan servicemen inside that illegally crossed the Afghan-Uzbek border. Unfortunately, Embraer-314 and MiG-29 planes collided and crashed in the Sherabad district of the Surkhandarya region.
At the end of October, the Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that a quarter of the military aircraft belonging to the Air Force of the government stationed in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
"Taliban" Defense Minister Mullah Yakub called on Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to return the Afghan helicopters. According to him, aviation equipment is the property of the country and it should be returned. At the same time, he noted that Uzbekistan should not test the Taliban’s patience and will not force them to take drastic measures. "It's better if Tajikistan and Uzbekistan fold, otherwise the Taliban will get tired of waiting," Mulla Yaqub said.