Following the U.S. exit from Afghanistan in August last year, the Taliban quickly regained power in the country and captured several Embraer A-29 Super Tucano aircraft that had been purchased by the U.S. government precisely to fight the Taliban.
Despite having captured these planes, the Taliban found most of them inoperable, in addition to lacking the necessary expertise to operate them, which resulted in the planes not flying.
Still, the Taliban have asked Uzbekistan to return two planes that escaped from Afghanistan during the takeover, when their crews took refuge in the neighboring country.
According to our partner media Aeroin, the Uzbek government finally delivered a formal refusal informing through its spokesman, Ismatulla Irgashev, that it will keep the Super Tucanos in its possession following the agreement with the United States.
Irgashev confirmed that the Taliban were duly informed of the decision. «The U.S. government paid for them to support a previous Afghan government. Therefore, we believe that it is Washington’s full responsibility to deal with these aircraft,» the official said, Eurasianet portal reported.
In total, the country has 46 aircraft that defected from Afghanistan in the days before the fall of Kabul: Russian-made Mil Mi-17 helicopters, Sikorsky UH-60 Blackhawk, Pilatus PC-12, Cessna C208/AC208 Caravan and the A-29, made by Embraer in the United States.
