Taliban Conduct Successful Test Flights of Seized Military Aircraft After Restoration

The Taliban government, on Wednesday, conducted test flights of what appeared to be a military Russian helicopter and American jets after successfully repairing them. The Taliban had seized the helicopter and aircraft following the US exit from Afghanistan almost a year ago.

Speaking in this regard, a spokesperson for Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defense, Enayatullah Khowarazmi, confirmed that test flights of repaired a helicopter and two planes were successfully conducted.

When asked about the source from where the Taliban government acquired the technical expertise for repairing the helicopter and planes, Khowarazmi clarified that no country has helped the Taliban in restoring the seized military equipment.

Khowarazmi also declined to confirm the country of origin and model of the helicopters and jets that conducted low flights over Kabul for several hours on Wednesday.

The spokesperson added that pilots, mechanics, and other specialists from the former Afghan National Army trained by the US and its allies will also be recruited into the Armed Forces of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

Khowarazmi said that the Taliban have the technical expertise to repair all the military equipment left by the US. So far, the Taliban have restored 35 tanks, 20 Navistar 7,000 trucks, and 15 Humvees.

During US’ exit from the war-torn country last year, it was reported that the Taliban had also seized more than 100 Russian helicopters, the head of the Russian state-owned defense exporter had confirmed.

Alexander Mikheev, CEO of Rosoboronexport, had said that over 100 Russian-made Mi-17 Hip helicopters had fallen into the hands of the Taliban.

However, Mikheev had claimed that the Taliban would not be able to use the Russian helicopters with little access to maintenance crews and spare parts, suggesting that a large part of the fleet would remain grounded due to a lack of repair and maintenance.



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