Russia Hopes Afghan Hijacked Military Aircraft Will Not End Up In Ukraine - Diplomat

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th August, 2022) Russia is hoping that some 100 military planes and helicopters that former Afghan troops used to flee to neighboring Uzbekistan and Tajikistan will not take part in the hostilities on Urkaine's side, Zamir Kabulov, the Russian presidential envoy for Afghanistan and the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Second Asian Department, told Sputnik on Tuesday.

In August 2021, during the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban (under UN sanctions for terrorism), the Afghan air force pilots and other troops, together with their families, fled the country to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on army aircraft. Local media cited Uzbek authorities as saying that Tashkent was not planning to return the said aircraft to the Afghan side as those were the property of the United States.

"It is important for us that those helicopters and planes that ended up on the territory of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan not get to Ukraine," Kabulov said, adding that some 60 aircraft had landed in Tajikistan and about 40-50 in Uzbekistan following the evacuation of the Afghan military.

Earlier in the day, Kabulov told Sputnik that some former Afghan special forces troops are fighting in Ukraine on Kiev's side as mercenaries.

An interim Afghan government led by the Taliban came to power last fall after the withdrawal of US troops from the country and the collapse of the US-backed government. The Taliban takeover triggered economic disarray and food shortages that have pushed the country to the brink of a humanitarian crisis. Thousands of Afghans have fled the country fearful of the Taliban, widespread violation of human rights, and the deprivation of women and girls of their freedoms.