Those American planes worth billions of dollars that the Afghan Taliban want to bring back from their neighboring country

The Ministry of Defense of the Taliban in Afghanistan has called the US-Uzbekistan agreement on former Afghan army planes as "unacceptable" and demanded their return.

Earlier, US Ambassador to Uzbekistan Jonathan Hank said that Washington and Uzbekistan have reached an agreement regarding the status of Afghan army planes and helicopters, which Afghan pilots flew from Afghanistan to Uzbekistan in 2021.

Hank said that these military aircraft will remain in Uzbekistan. The planes never belonged to the Afghan government, they belonged to the United States, but the Afghan army used them.

On the occasion of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, many Afghan fighters and helicopters were transferred by Afghan pilots to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.

At that time, the statement released by Uzbekistan said that "22 military aircraft and 24 helicopters" of the Afghan Air Force are present in the country.

The statement of the Ministry of Defense of the Afghan government said that "the United States has no right to gift the assets of Afghans to anyone else."

The statement asked Uzbekistan not to enter into any kind of agreement. "We hope that the Uzbek government will refrain from making any kind of deal and that they will make a good decision as neighbors and cooperate with us in returning the Afghan Air Force aircraft to Afghanistan."

According to the agreement between Washington and Tashkent, the planes of the former Afghan army will remain in Uzbekistan, but it is not clear whether Uzbekistan will use these planes or not.

Over the past three years, the United States has negotiated with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan about 50 military planes that Afghan pilots flew to those countries after the fall of the previous Afghan government.

The planes were supplied by the US to the former government of Afghanistan and their status has been uncertain ever since.

The Taliban government has always insisted that these planes be returned to Afghanistan.

The American magazine Politico wrote in one of its articles with reference to sources that the United States intends to hand over fifty military aircraft of the former Afghan government to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in exchange for the commitment of cooperation in the war against terrorism.

According to the Journal, the US government is trying to "quietly" gain a foothold in the region by handing over the planes to these countries and has "informal" talks with the governments of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan to "deepen security ties". What is the contract?

According to a report published by CNN, the US still has 78 purchased aircraft worth $923.3 million in Afghanistan. According to this report, these planes were in civilian use or decommissioned before the departure of the US military.

According to satellite images taken by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, these aircraft include C-208 utility aircraft, A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, as well as Mi-17, Mi-25 and Black Hawk helicopters.

Two years ago, the Taliban's acting defense minister, Yaqub Mujahid, said, "We will not rest until we recapture these planes."

Officials in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan say the planes are owned by the United States and will not be handed over at the request of Taliban officials.

Uzbekistan cooperated with the United States after the 9/11 attacks of September 11, 2001, and leased the Kurshi Khanabad Air Base to the United States from 2001 to 2005 for operations in Afghanistan, but canceled the agreement due to unrest and pressure from Russia. went

Tajikistan also has a history of cooperation with Washington, including allowing US military aircraft to refuel at its airports after the 9/11 attacks, but in the years since, Dushanbe's relationship with Washington has soured. I have been cold.

Tajikistan is currently a member of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, a military alliance of former Soviet republics, and currently hosts a Russian military base.

According to Politico, a senior US Defense Department official said both Tajikistan and Uzbekistan were "definitely very interested in having these planes."

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