Termez, Uzbekistan:
Uzbekistan mentioned Monday that it forced the landing of 46 Afghan aircraft carrying 585 troops that illegally crossed its border on a weekend which saw the Afghan government swept away by the Taliban.
The statement from the Central Asian country’s state prosecutor mentioned 22 military planes and 24 military helicopters have been “forcibly landed” at Termez airport in southern Uzbekistan on Saturday and Sunday.
Among the planes that crossed the border was an Afghan military plane that crashed in the southern province of Surkhondaryo, the statement mentioned.
The state prosecutor mentioned that the crash came right after a collision in between an Afghan military plane and an Uzbek government plane that was assisting its landing.
“The pilots of these aircraft landed by parachute,” the statement mentioned.
The prosecutor’s statement also mentioned that 158 civilians and military personnel had crossed more than the Amu Darya river into Uzbekistan on Sunday and have been now beneath criminal investigation.
Central Asian alarm
Central Asia has watched with alarm as the government in Kabul collapsed.
Three former Soviet nations — Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan — border Afghanistan.
The military plane’s reported crash late on Sunday set media abuzz in Uzbekistan as photographs and footage of the debris and wounded pilots circulated on Telegram.
Bekpulat Okboyev, a physician in the city of Termez, Surkhondaryo’s regional capital, told AFP his hospital had taken in two patients who have been wearing Afghan military uniforms late on Sunday, that have been presumed to be the pilots of the plane.
The physician described one as getting “with a parachute” and noted that the man had suffered fractures.
Okboyev mentioned his hospital had also accepted 3 Afghan soldiers a day earlier right after a total of 84 troops illegally crossed the border into the nation even though fleeing the Taliban.
Uzbekistan’s foreign ministry mentioned on Sunday that these Afghan soldiers have been detained the evening ahead of by Uzbek border services but had received humanitarian help.
The statement mentioned Uzbekistan was negotiating with the “Afghan side” more than their return home.
Uzbekistan’s neighbour Tajikistan mentioned Monday it had permitted more than one hundred Afghan military members to land at Bokhtar airport in the south of the nation.
“Tajikistan received SOS signals, after which, in accordance with the country’s international obligations, it was decided to allow Afghan servicemen to land at the airport,” the Tajik foreign ministry’s info division told Russian news agencies Interfax and RIA Novosti.
RIA Novosti reported that 3 planes carrying the soldiers had landed in Bokhtar throughout the evening.
Of the 3 Central Asian nations bordering Afghanistan, only Tajikistan has eschewed talks with Taliban officials, who have assured neighbours of their commitment to regional peace and infrastructure projects.
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