Regime's Dearth of Aviators Continues To Worsen Aircraft Attrition

The Taliban confirmed a video making the rounds earlier this week that featured one of their inherited MD-350 helicopters coming in low for a landing only to abruptly lift and veer off horizontally before impacting the ground. 

Like many goings on in the post US-withdrawal Afghanistan, details are few and far between, with rumors abounding unopposed until halfhearted explanations are officially sewn. Taliban spokesman for the Ministry of Defense, Inayatullah Khwarazmi blamed technical issues with the aircraft, saying the 2 injured pilots are expected to recover. "The helicopter crashed and is destroyed. Our pilots are injured but we don't have fatalities. One of the pilots is in stable condition, another pilot is in critical condition," he said.

The equipment left to the Afghanistan National Army varied last year, with much of it falling into Taliban hands with little bloodshed as forces were absorbed into the advancing army. Technical skills are few and far between, as the new owners found. Very little of the upkeep for ANA aircraft was completed by local technicians, the majority of maintenance being completed by outside contractors that disappeared with the American retreat. Decades of American involvement tried unsuccessfully to establish aeronautical expertise in-theater, but their best efforts were only able to create a small, ambivalent cadre of Afghani pilots who are more famous for sitting out a number of important battles during the takeover than heroic ground attack missions. Their actions were understandable, given their status as preferred assassination targets of embedded Taliban cells. Pilots were highly prized targets owing to their battlefield effectiveness, the blow to morale, and the grounding of ANA aircraft. That policy has taken a toll, however, as knowledgeable aviators are now few and far between in the new government, evidenced by videos of untrained amateurs commandeering their newly acquired aircraft. Unfortunately for the new government, replacement helicopters are just as rare and expensive, making those few remaining even less likely to be used as trainers. 

FMI: www.mfa.gov.af/en/