An initial group of Afghan pilots who flew themselves and their family members to safety in Uzbekistan aboard Afghan Air Force aircraft were transferred to a US military base in the UAE on Sunday, according to the office of Representative August Pfluger, which has been in contact with one of the pilots and his wife.
Two other groups of Afghan pilots and their relatives are expected to fly out in under an arrangement the US negotiated with Uzbekistan to move more than 450 Afghans.
The Afghan pilots, whom the Taliban consider among the most reviled members of the Afghan military for their role in conducting airstrikes against Taliban fighters, have been caught in a delicate diplomatic tug of war since fleeing their country as the government in Kabul was collapsing last month.
Taliban leaders have been pressuring the Uzbek government to turn over the pilots, who fear for the safety of themselves and their families. The US, for its part, has been leaning on the Uzbeks to let the Afghans leave and fulfill its pledge to secure safe passage to pivotal members of the Afghan military who fought alongside the US.
Since 2010, the defence department has appropriated over $8.5 billion to develop a capable and sustainable Afghan Air Force and its special mission wing.
Former American service members, many of whom trained and served with the Afghan pilots and their maintenance crews, as well as members of Congress, have been working closely with the state department to arrange the transfers to US bases in West Asia and, ultimately, to the US.
“I’m very happy they’re getting out, but this was not a smooth process,” Pfluger, a Texas Republican and former Air Force F-22 pilot, said in a telephone interview. “The pilots were the most lethal part of the Afghan military_, and it’s very important to do whatever we can to protect them.”
Pfluger said he became involved after a constituent who is married to an Afghan pilot contacted his office. The constituent, Jerri, a US citizen, met the pilot while he was training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
