Afghan Pilots Flown Out Of Tajikistan

The last major group of U.S.-trained pilots that fled abroad during the Taliban takeover in August were among the Afghan personnel who have left Tajikistan in a U.S.-brokered flight for the United Arab Emirates, reports Reuters. The Pentagon estimated that the group of evacuees totalled about 191 as against the earlier expected figure of 150. The group flew to Tajikistan in military aircraft at the end of the war, was detained by Tajik authorities and had been awaiting U.S. relocation, hoping the transfer will lead to eventual U.S. resettlement. In September, a U.S.-brokered deal allowed a larger group of Afghan pilots and other military personnel to be flown out of Uzbekistan to the United Arab Emirates.