Around 150 former Afghan Air Force pilots and personnel, who were trapped in Tajikistan for months after fleeing Afghanistan, have been airlifted by the United States out of the country to the United Arab Emirates.
in August. But some of the pilots found themselves in a frightening limbo, detained in a hotel complex by Tajikistan's authorities, where they said they spent weeks held largely incommunicado and unsure if they might be sent back to the Taliban.
"It's just a huge relief," said David Hicks, a former brigadier general and CEO of Sacred Promise, a nongovernmental organization run by current and ex-U.S. military officers that have been working on getting the pilots out."The team is tremendously relieved and happy to have those individuals out and moving onto their next step to freedom.", where they too were detained. But the U.S.
Speaking by phone from Dubai, he said in Tajikistan, the pilots had lived in poorly heated accommodation and at times had to drink river water."It's hard for them, because they left the place we used to live in. Now they're living somewhere else and nobody is there to support and help," he said."But still thanks God, thanks God that we are out of there," he said, referring to Tajikistan.
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