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Afghan Air Force has planes but no state

27th August 2021 - 04:42 GMT | by Gordon Arthur in Christchurch

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The rugged Mi-8/Mi-17 made up the backbone of the former AAF fleet. (US DoD)

The Afghan Air Force no longer exists within Afghanistan, but many of its personnel and aircraft scattered to neighbouring countries after defeat at the hands of the Taliban.

Afghan forces collapsed spectacularly like a row of dominoes this month as political leaders such as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country. Towards the end, many Afghan Air Force (AAF) aircraft took to the air to find refuge in neighbouring countries.

By no means did all helicopters and aircraft escape the clutches of the Taliban, however, as they overran air bases such as Bagram, Herat, Kabul, Kandahar and Mazar-i-Sharif before achieving its almost nationwide victory on 15 August.

In an inventory assessment dated 16 August, the Oryx blogsite analysed what AAF airframes had in fact been captured. Its compilers

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