With the escalation of violence and insurgency in Afghanistan’s southern regions, major general Abdul Raziq Sherzai, the commander of Kandahar Air Brigade Friday rallied for more aircraft to be delivered to the hard-pressed Afghan security forces who have been battling insurgent groups in their traditional heartlands inKandahar and Helmand provinces for weeks.
He said that the Kandahar Air Brigade, despite having inadequate facilities on hand, continue to back the ground forces in their campaign against the militants in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, where in recent months violence dramatically increased following the Taliban’s new attempt to seize control of the strategic province of Helmand in the south and infiltrate neighboring provinces.
The Kandahar Air Brigade that operates under the command of 205 Atal Corps has about 20 different types of aircrafts – a figure security officials claim is nothing near what they need to deal with the current scale of security issues that have undermined large swaths of land in the south.
He called on the central government in Kabul and NATO alliance to make sure there is a delivery of more aircrafts to conventional forces so that they can tighten their grip on the war with the terrorists.
Kandahar Air Brigade has at least 900 employees and technicians.
“777 special unit is also set to assume its job in the southwestern region, our air brigade also conducts missions during the operations,” said Sherzai.
“We need cooperation, foreign forces should deliver us more aircraft and equipment so that we get more strength,” said an Afghan pilot in Kandahar Air Brigade.
Meanwhile, a number of security sources on condition of anonymity in the southern provinces have said that air support and reinforcements are not being sent to them on time.
“We expect the government to deliver us the latest aircraft which can meet the needs of current times, they should also provide us latest technical training,” said Afghan National in Kandahar.
“Ground forces give us the plan and suggest us to come to a certain area and conduct operations. Both 205 Atal Corps and 2015 Maiwand Corps are supplied by us,” added Sherzai.
The Afghan (AAF) has 150 aircrafts which operate from Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, Nangarhar and Balkh provinces and conduct missions to support ground forces.
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