US Watchdog: Taliban Assassinations of Afghan Pilots 'Worrisome'
Voice of America
WASHINGTON - Taliban assassinations of Afghan pilots detailed by Reuters this month mark another "worrisome development" for the Afghan Air Force as it reels from a surge in fighting, a U.S. government watchdog said in a report released on Thursday.
At least seven Afghan pilots have been assassinated off base in recent months, two senior Afghan government officials told Reuters, part of what the Islamist Taliban says is a campaign to see U.S.-trained Afghan pilots "targeted and eliminated." As the United States prepares to formally end its 20-year military mission in Afghanistan on Aug. 31, Taliban insurgents are quickly seizing territory once controlled by the U.S.-backed government of President Ashraf Ghani, raising fears they could eventually try to take the capital, Kabul. The Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), in its quarterly report to Congress covering the three-month period through June, broadly portrayed an Afghan Air Force (AAF) under growing strain from battling the Taliban amid the U.S. withdrawal - and becoming less ready to fight.This photo provided by the Prefecture Maritime du Nord et de la Manche shows migrants continuing their journey to Britain off the northern coast of France, April 23, 2024. British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks at a press conference at Downing Street in London, April 22, 2024. Sunak pledged that the country’s first deportation flights to Rwanda could leave in 10-12 weeks.
Women in rural Malawi pick vegetables in Chikwawa district. Statistics show that more than 20% of Malawi's 19.6 million people live in extreme poverty. With 20% of people in Malawi living in extreme poverty, UNICEF says parents and caregivers in rural areas need assistance to care for their children. These children are pictured in Malawi's Chikwawa district.
FILE - Visitors walk past a model of India's Brahmos supersonic cruise missile displayed at the Defence Expo 2022 in Gandhinagar on Oct. 18, 2022. South China Sea territorial claims India’s Foreign Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar shakes hands with Philippines’ Secretary of Foreign Affairs Enrique Manalo after a joint press conference at the Sofitel Hotel in Manila, March 26, 2024. (Jam Sta Rosa/Pool via Reuters)