Less than a year ago a number of these A-29’s passed through Prestwick on delivery, the Afgan Air Force and Army were provided with significant quantities of equipment.
Although a significant number of aircraft have been flown out of Afganistan, they will probably be returned to the Taliban regime in the future. And the question is, what does that future hold for Afganistan and its people.
The Taliban have gained almost complete control of the country, practically without a shot being fired. Despite President Biden’s statement regarding the readiness of the Afgan Government forces, it would seem that things conspired against the government on the defense front.
The existing Afgan president fled, no real mention of his whereabouts, or the whereabouts of the load of cash that he took with him. So the Taliban have captured a country, effectively with its infrastructure in tact – the question is what will they do with the opportunity.
As to the ordinary people of Afganistan, they have tasted possibly some of the globally accepted freedoms and norms of the present day. Many are Afgans agrieved with the west for its abandonment of them, yet there was no attempt by the Afgan people to defend these freedoms – paid for in western lives.
Will the Taliban take the country back in time, or as seems unlikely at the moment embrace the future – only time will tell.