ByNizamuddin Rezahi in Khaama Press,Feb 12, 2023
General Abdul Rashid Dostum, leader of the Junbish-e Milli political party has called on Tajikistan and Uzbekistan to hand over the former government army’s helicopters to National Resistance Front (NRF) fighters.
The leader of the Junbish-e-Milli party has said that these helicopters should be used by the NRF personnel in different provinces of Afghanistan.
General Dostum has expressed these comments in a ceremony in London commemorating the martyrdom of Khair Mohammad Khairkhaw, one of the key NRF commanders who was killed in the fight against the Taliban in Andarab valley in northern Baghlan province.
At least 40 helicopters of the former government’s army were transferred to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, according to Dostum. Prior to this, the Defense Ministry of the United States had announced that 46 flights had landed in Uzbekistan and 18 in Tajikistan until August 21, 2021.
In April, Uzbek authorities announced that helicopters and aircraft of Afghanistan’s former government will not be handed to the Taliban. Ismatullah Irgashev, Uzbekistan’s special representative for Afghanistan had said that the military equipment belongs to the U.S. and will be kept in Uzbekistan in collaboration with Washington.
Abdul Rashid Dostum says that the Taliban kills former Afghan National Army with no mercy – the group conducts door-to-door search operations, find former army personnel, tortures them in the worst possible manner, and eventually kills them.
Pointing to the death of NRF fighters, Dostum said that ‘Andarabi and Panjshiris’ deaths will be avenged. He said that the Taliban will not sustain itself for much longer, and called on the opposition parties to regroup against the repressive regime.
Dostum further added that opposition groups should decisively stand against the Taliban, and carefully think about the future structure of Afghanistan, otherwise, there will be no escape from the continued tortures and killings of the ruling regime.
His remarks came days after the Brookings Institution based in the US released an investigative report, claiming that NRF’s resistance would not pose any immediate threats to the Taliban regime. The reports also added that they do not see any alternative group or power to replace the ruling regime in Afghanistan.
https://www.khaama.com/tajikistan-uzbekistan-should-return-former-govts-helicopters-to-nrf-fighters-dostum-says/
