Taliban’s Defense Minister Threatens Uzbekistan, Tajikistan

The Taliban’s acting defense minister Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob Akhund has warned Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to immediately return Afghan planes and choppers or face the consequences.

In an open threat, Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob said: “We may relatively be weaker than those of our neighbouring country but we are not coward and will take into account every single spare part of our planes and helicopters. I ask them respectfully to return our planes and helicopters and not question our patience any further and not to force us to take all possible retaliatory steps.”

Yaqoob did not elaborate further but said that the Taliban rule has been asking these two countries to return these planes which they have kept illegally.
“These planes were taken out illegally. They belong to the Afghanistan air force,” Yaqoob asserted. He added that the Taliban are working to reactivate the Afghan Air Force, which is reliable and will be used to protect people and the borders of Afghanistan.

More than 100 US trained Afghan air force pilots flew themselves and their families to safety in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan aboard more than 60 aircraft, including A-29 light attack planes and Black Hawk helicopters, just days before the Taliban takeover of Kabul on August 15.