Russia would not want 100 planes and helicopters, on which the Afghan military fled to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan last year, ended up in Ukraine, Zamir Kabulov, special representative of the Russian president for Afghanistan, told RIA Novosti.

“It is important for us that those helicopters and planes that ended up on the territory of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, when Afghan military leaders and servicemen fled and overtook several dozen helicopters and planes, do not get to Ukraine: about 60 in Tajikistan and about 40-50 in Uzbekistan,” Kabulov said.

Prosecutor General’s Office said in August last year that during the days of the Taliban’s capture of Kabul, 22 military aircraft and 24 helicopters (Embraer EMB 314 Super Tucano, UH-60 Black Hawk, MD- 530, PC-12 and Mi-17) crossed the Uzbek-Afghan border, in which there were 585 armed Afghan soldiers.

The United States and its allies, as part of their 20-year military campaign in Afghanistan, have provided the Afghan government with a large number of aircraft and helicopters. The exact number of military aircraft that ended up on the territory of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan in August 2021 has not been officially announced.

In September and November, the pilots were transferred to the United Arab Emirates and then to the United States. The fate of military aircraft was not mentioned.

In January of this year and the Acting Minister of Defense of the Caretaker Government of Afghanistan Mavlavi Mohammad Yakub Mujahid demanded that Uzbekistan and Tajikistan return aircraft. “Our planes in Tajikistan or Uzbekistan must be returned. We will not allow these aircraft to remain abroad or be used by these countries,” he said.

At the same time, US Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said that the issue of deploying Afghan military aircraft remaining in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is still being reviewed, but, in his opinion, they "will not be returned to Afghanistan for use by the Taliban."