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   More than 140 Afghan Air Force pilots and crew members detained in Tajikistan   
   since mid-August after fleeing Afghanistan were flown out of the country   
   Tuesday with the help of the American authorities, according to a retired U.S.   
   Air Force officer who leads a volunteer group that has assisted the Afghans.   
       
   The flight, bound for the United Arab Emirates, ended a three-month ordeal for   
   the U.S.-trained military personnel, who had flown American-supplied aircraft   
   to Tajikistan to escape the Taliban only to end up in custody.   
       
   The Afghans said they were counting on the U.S. government to secure their   
   freedom after they were detained by the Tajik authorities after the Taliban   
   seized power in their home country and they fled, fearing reprisals.   
       
   In WhatsApp audio recordings made on smuggled cellphones, the English-speaking   
   pilots described poor conditions, insufficient food rations and limited   
   medical care at the site where they were being held outside the capital,   
   Dushanbe.   
       
   Brig. Gen. David Hicks, a retired Air Force officer who is chief executive of   
   Operation Sacred Promise, said a plane carrying the Afghans had departed   
   Dushanbe on Tuesday night, U.S. Eastern time, after a long delay.   
       
   "It's just such a great relief for the entire team knowing that they are   
   getting out of this period of uncertainty and taking the first step in   
   starting their new lives," General Hicks said. "Hopefully, they will all be   
   reunited with their families soon."   
       
   But for many Afghans who worked with the U.S. military, the ordeal is not over.   
       
   Several thousand Afghan Air Force pilots and crew members remain in hiding in   
   Afghanistan, with some saying they feel abandoned by the U.S. military, their   
   longtime combat ally. They say they are desperate to leave Afghanistan because   
   they and their families are at risk of being hunted down and killed by the   
   Taliban.   
       
   In telephone interviews from safe houses in Afghanistan, several Afghan Air   
   Force pilots described moving from house to house to avoid detection. They   
   said they were running out of money and did not dare look for work because   
   they feared being discovered by the militants.   
       
   The Taliban have said there is a general amnesty for any Afghan who served in   
   the former government or worked with the U.S. government or military. But   
   several Afghan Air Force pilots have been killed by the Taliban this year.   
       
   General Hicks said the flight that left Tajikistan on Tuesday had been   
   arranged by the State Department, which also aided in the evacuation in   
   September of a separate group of Afghan pilots and crew members who had flown    
   to Uzbekistan. Those Afghans were taken to a U.S. military base in the United   
   Arab Emirates.   
       
   Some pilots and crew members and their families were evacuated with the help   
   of the U.S. government and military just after the Taliban takeover in August.   
   But many more were unable to get out, despite attempts by their former   
   advisers to help them.   
       
   Since mid-August, General Hicks said, Operation Sacred Promise has helped   
   evacuate about 350 Afghans. The group has vetted about 2,000 Afghan Air Force   
   personnel and their relatives trying to leave Afghanistan, with about 8,000   
   more still to be vetted, he said.   
       
   The status of the Afghan Air Force aircraft flown to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan   
   remains unclear.   
       
   During Afghanistan's collapse, about 25 percent of the Afghan Air Force's   
   aircraft were flown to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, according to an Oct. 31   
   report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction.   
   General Hicks put the number at 56 to 60 aircraft.   
       
   U.S. forces rendered unusable 80 others at Kabul's airport in late August.   
      
   --- DB4 - Oct 12 2021   
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