Citing a U.S. Official, Reuters reported on October 22 that the United States hopes to soon relocate around 150 U.S.-trained Afghan Air Force pilots and other personnel detained in Tajikistan for more than two months after they flew there at the end of the Afghan war,
143 U.S.-trained Afghan military pilots and 13 other Afghan military personnel who want to go to the United States have been living at a sanatorium on the outskirts of Dushanbe for more than two months.
Radio Liberty’ Tajik Service says trained by the United States, the Afghan pilots say their documents have been completed for traveling and they hope they will soon be able to go to the United States.
But two Afghan pilots who are sheltering at the sanatorium on the outskirts of Dushanbe told RFE/RL's Tajik Service on October 23 that the Taliban is now trying to force them to return to Afghanistan.
One Afghan pilot, speaking on condition of anonymity, told RFE/RL that his son back in Afghanistan was beaten by the Taliban and that the militants threatened to kill the boy if the pilot did not return.
Another pilot told RFE/RL that Taliban militants have gone to the homes of several of his family members to demand that the pilot return to Afghanistan.
He told RFE/RL that the Taliban has a list of the names of all 143 Afghan pilots now in Tajikistan. He said Taliban authorities are increasing pressure on all of the pilots by threatening their relatives in Afghanistan.
