The US-educated Afghan pilots and other folks held at a camp in Uzbekistan currently feared getting sent back to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan. So it was small comfort when an Uzbek guard unsympathetically quipped the other day: “You can’t stay here forever.”
The offhand warning added to an currently grinding sense of unease at the camp just across Afghanistan’s northern border, recounted one of the Afghan pilots who fled there with aircraft when ground forces fell to the Taliban in August as the United states and its allies withdrew their forces.
What follows is the initial, detailed inside account amongst Afghans who, for practically 3 weeks, have been waiting in vain to be evacuated by the United States.
“If they send us back, I’m 100 percent sure they’ll kill us,” mentioned the pilot, who declined to be named for the reason that of worry of reprisal.
Speaking to Reuters on a cell phone that the Afghans there attempt to maintain out of sight, the pilot described feeling like a prisoner, with very restricted movement, lengthy hours in the sun, and insufficient meals and medicine. Some have lost weight.
“We are kind of like in jail,” mentioned the pilot, who estimates the Afghans held there quantity 465. “We have no freedom here.”
Late August satellite pictures supplied to Reuters showed higher walls surrounding the camp, whose housing units had been applied previously to treat COVID-19 patients and is close to the city of Termez. Images shared with Reuters from inside showed sparse white rooms with bunk beds and no clutter – due to the fact most Afghans arrived with just the clothing on their backs.
Uzbek guards had been armed, some with handguns and other folks with semi-automatic weapons, the pilot mentioned.
TALIBAN Stress
The camp dangers turning into yet another crisis for U.S. President Joe Biden, who was criticized left and ideal for the poor preparing of evacuations that marked the finish of America’s longest war and the Islamist terror group’s swift takeover.
Current and former U.S. officials are essential of the failure of the U.S. government so far to evacuate the Afghan personnel and aircraft in Uzbekistan, as present and former U.S. officials warn of Taliban stress on Uzbek authorities to hand them more than.
Senator Jack Reed, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee, mentioned he was “deeply concerned” about the Afghan pilots and other forces there.
“It is imperative that these personnel not fall into the hands of the Taliban both for their safety and the valuable technical knowledge and training they have,” Reed told Reuters.
John Herbst, a former U.S. ambassador to Uzbekistan, mentioned he believed Uzbekistan faced actual and substantial stress from the Taliban to hand them more than.
“They want to have good relations with Taliban. They don’t want to provoke them, but they also don’t want to provoke us,” mentioned Herbst, now at the Atlantic Council assume-tank. He known as for “competent statesmanship.”
Retired U.S. Brigadier General David Hicks, who commanded the coaching work for the Afghan Air Force from 2016 to 2017, mentioned the State Department had failed to act speedy adequate soon after getting supplied facts about the Afghans getting held at the camp from a network of present and former U.S. service members and lawmakers.
“I’m not sure what they’re doing at this point, to be honest,” mentioned Hicks, who is amongst these working to assistance the pilots and their households.
A State Department spokesperson mentioned the United States was coordinating with Uzbekistan on the matter but stressed that Afghan personnel and aircraft had been safe. It urged all of Afghanistan’s neighbors to enable Afghans entry and to respect international law against returning refugees to nations exactly where they are probably to face persecution.
Uzbekistan’s government did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
DARING ESCAPE
Even ahead of the Taliban takeover, U.S.-educated, English-speaking pilots had come to be their prime targets. Taliban fighters tracked them down when they went off-base and assassinated some pilots.
In the final days and hours ahead of losing the war to the Taliban, some Afghan pilots staged a amazing escape by flying 46 aircraft out the nation ahead of the Taliban could take them – more than a quarter of the out there fleet of about 160 planes.
Most flew from Kabul but some came from a base just across the border close to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, fleeing Taliban fighters who had been storming the base soon after ground units collapsed. In a dramatic episode, one of the Afghan aircraft collided with an Uzbek jet, forcing the pilots to eject.
The Afghan pilot who spoke to Reuters estimated there had been about 15 pilots who flew A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft, 11 pilots who flew UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, 12 pilots who flew MD-530 helicopters and numerous Mi-17 helicopter pilots.
Besides dozens of pilots, there are Air Force upkeep personnel and other Afghan safety forces at the camp. Some managed to cram family members onto aircraft but most are fearful for their loved ones across the border.
“There weren’t any more ground forces. We fought until the last moment,” the pilot mentioned.
One U.S. military official, speaking on situation of anonymity, commended the Afghans in Uzbekistan for taking the planes out of Afghanistan.
“The only thing they knew to do was to fly every aircraft out of Taliban hands,” the official mentioned, adding: “They believed in us.”
The Taliban did not right away reply to a request for comment on the Afghans in the Uzbek camp.
However, a senior Taliban leader, speaking to Reuters soon after the fall of Kabul, mentioned his forces had captured drones and helicopters. But he longed for the return of the Afghan aircraft in Uzbekistan.
“Inshallah we will receive our remaining aircrafts, they are not in Afghanistan,” he mentioned.
The Taliban, which had no aircraft however won the war, have also mentioned they will be inviting former military personnel, such as pilots, to join their new safety forces. It says there will be no reprisal killings.
BIOMETRIC READINGS
On Wednesday, officials from the U.S. government arrived at the camp to take biometric information from the Afghan personnel there, the pilot mentioned.
“Fingerprints and also checking the IDs,” he mentioned.
The State Department did not respond to a query from Reuters about the pay a visit to.
The look of the U.S. personnel lifted the mood somewhat, the pilot mentioned, but there was nonetheless no clear indication of no matter whether assistance was on its way.
The additional the Taliban gets in establishing its government and relations with neighbors, the more risky their circumstance could come to be, the pilot mentioned.
Experts on the area like Herbst, the former U.S. ambassador, say Uzbekistan has every single explanation to seek a working relationship with the Taliban. That worry is shared amongst the Afghans at the camp.
“Most of the Air Force personnel, especially the pilots, they are educated in the U.S.,” the pilot mentioned.
“They cannot (go to) Afghanistan and also those countries which probably … in the future will have good relations with the Taliban.”