Taliban asks former Afghan Air Force pilots to return to Afghanistan

The Taliban have asked the former Afghan Air Force pilots to return to the country and said that general amnesty has already been announced, reported local media.

"There will not be any security threat for these pilots in Afghanistan. General amnesty has already been announced. They can come back and serve here," TOLOnews quoted the Taliban spokesperson, Zabihullah Mujahid as saying.

After the Taliban took over Afghanistan on August 15, reports emerged stating that the Afghan security force members had managed to flee to the neighbouring countries. However, tens of thousands of Afghan soldiers were still on the run and were being hunted down by the Taliban.

Reports said that the Taliban have been searching for people who they believe worked with and fought alongside the United States and NATO forces.

The statement from the Taliban comes at a time when the reports were released on Wednesday that these US-trained Afghan Air Force pilots and other personnel left for the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday, reported TOLOnews.

It was also reported that these Afghan pilots were living in hardship in Tajikistan.

"These are intellectual assets of the country. They are trained and educated by Afghanistan's funds. They are experienced workers, so there should be a way and means for them to come back," TOLOnews quoted military expert Sarwar Neyazi as saying.

About 25 per cent of the Afghan Air Force's aircraft were flown to Tajikistan and Uzbekistan after the fall of Kabul in August this year, the news channel reported Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction as stating citing The New York Times.