Experts: Tajikistan must “carefully make decisions”

Experts close to the Taliban believe that the United States wants to pit Tajikistan and Uzbekistan against Afghanistan, just like Iran and Pakistan.

Photo: Internet

Afghan military experts Nasir Haqqani and Aziz Istonikzai from Kabul believe that Tajikistan should “carefully make decisions” regarding military helicopters and aircraft.

These Afghan experts likely voice the Taliban’s position in the media, emphasizing that the Taliban government is currently working on the return of Afghan military helicopters from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, using “soft political diplomacy,” but if necessary, the diplomatic tone will change, and the situation will shift within 24 hours.

According to them, the planes and helicopters provided by the U.S. to the former Afghan government are, under international law, the property of all Afghan citizens, regardless of who is in power.

“Even if the U.S. gives these planes to Tajikistan, in the future, Afghans or the Afghan government will never forget them, whether it is the Islamic Emirate or any other government, they will demand what is rightfully theirs and take it,” said Nasir Haqqani.

Experts emphasized that with the help of these planes and helicopters, which are currently in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, part of the Afghan population has been killed, their homes destroyed, and their property damaged, and today, when the government has changed, they must be returned to Afghanistan.

Earlier, Reuters reported that the United States may allow Tajikistan to keep Afghan military aircraft that Afghan pilots fled in after the Taliban took power. The United States gifted these military aircraft and helicopters to the Afghan Air Force.

The Taliban have repeatedly demanded that Tajikistan and Uzbekistan return the military aircraft and helicopters, but Tashkent and Dushanbe have refused.