But we’ve been fighting for decades-and some of us, even longer.
The logistics, the maintenance, and corruption really hurt us. Once the Americans left, we weren’t ready to start doing all the logistics.
I’ve been fighting for over fifteen years. We spent decades fighting alongside American forces.Īnything you want the American public to know? It’s a very big deal to be an Afghan pilot or a commando.Īnyway, we are hoping that the Americans will take us, and our families, to safety. We were celebrated by the Afghan people, so everyone knows us. The AAF and the Afghan Special Operations Forces are not the same as regular rank-and-file soldiers. If we are not rescued, then the Taliban will execute us. A lot of the American-made aircraft are very sophisticated and they take years of training to maintain them adequately. Although we had made great strides, especially with the Mi-17s, we weren’t ready to do it alone without the contractors. Although we have a lot of really good pilots, it takes a very long time to train maintainers. However, we fought for a long time, and it was the loss of the contractors that really hurt us. When they left in May, I was very scared that this day would come. However, I loved working with my American Air Force advisors the most. I have so many fond memories of my time in the United States. I started at the Defense Language Institute, then moved onto undergraduate pilot training, and then eventually more advanced pilot training for my aircraft. I visited San Antonio, Fort Rucker, and a lot of other places, too. I spent years in the United States, learning to speak English and going through undergraduate pilot training. What was your career with the Afghan Air Force like? They’ve already executed a few pilots over the weekend. I lost many friends to Taliban assassins. Because we were very good, the Taliban hunted us relentlessly over the last year. The AAF, along with the Afghan National Army Special Operations Corps (ANASOC), were the best fighters for the Afghan government. They are hunting us.Īctually, they’ve been hunting us for years, but this really increased over the last year. I’m at an undisclosed location with other Afghan Air Force (AAF) pilots, hiding from the Taliban. Unfortunately, we are currently separated, because the Taliban took Kabul. I’m married with seven beautiful children. I was born in Kunar, Afghanistan and joined the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) in 2005. Who are you? Can you tell us a little bit about your background? As the world watched the United States pull out from Afghanistan and Taliban forces take over the country, we spoke by text message with an Afghan Air Force pilot, now in hiding along with several other pilots and hoping to be evacuated.
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