By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S.-trained Afghan pilot was talking to Reuters on a smuggled cellphone from Tajikistan, where he is being held, when something strange happened – his voice started looping, repeating everything he had just said, word for word.

American nurse and fiancee in Florida was also on the phone. He began panicking. His name was called out, and she shouted it back.

She said that he was “frightened” and spoke on the condition of anonymity. “The worst thoughts came to my head.”

The couple experienced deep anxiety, despite it only being a once-off event. This occurred in the midst of growing impatience and unease among Afghan pilots and military personnel, who had fled Tajikistan on Aug. 15.

The 143 Afghans currently in detention at the sanatorium, located outside the Tajik capital of Dushanbe is waiting for the United States to transfer them.

They were flying with 16 military aircraft, as their ground forces fell before the Taliban advance. The Afghans claimed that they lost their mobile phones. They had been initially kept in a dormitory at a university before they were transferred on Sept. 1.

The contact they have with their families is very restricted. They appear to be in humane circumstances, but they seem anxious and uncertain about their future.

“We don’t know about our destination. “We’re all worried about it,” said the pilot.

They want to be with the Afghan military personnel who are being processed in Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and Germany for U.S. Visas.

A second pilot spoke separately under anonymity to say that the Tajikistan government always answers any question they ask.

Two Afghan women are among the military personnel stationed at the facility, one of whom is pregnant and the other a woman who was eight months old, said the second pilot.

David Hicks (a former U.S. Brigadier General) said that such a pregnancy is a reason to quickly move them. He also helps lead Operation Sacred Promise which works to resettle and evacuate Afghans.

Dushanbe also has 13 Afghans, who are enjoying more comfortable conditions. Reuters spoke with several pilots who said they arrived separately in the country, Aug. 15, and now live in a government facility. In a video conference, the pilots stated that they have never had any contact with Afghans in the sanatorium.

They could not understand why these two groups were separated.

U.S. State Department refused to comment on pilots in Tajikistan. The Foreign Ministry of Tajikistan did not reply to our request.

U.S.-trained Afghan Pilots from Tajikistan were the only remaining major Afghan Air Force personnel overseas after they flew dozens of sophisticated aircraft over the Afghan border between that country and Uzbekistan at the very end of the war.

Earlier in September, a U.S.-brokered deal allowed a larger group of Afghan pilots and other military personnel to be flown out https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-conflict-usa-pilots-idAFKBN2G80DQ of Uzbekistan. Some of the English-speaking pilots there had feared they could be sent back by the Uzbeks to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/exclusive-theyll-kill-us-afghan-pilots-held-uzbek-camp-fear-deadly-homecoming-2021-09-03 and killed for inflicting so many Taliban casualties during the war.

‘NO DOMESTIC URGENCY’

Afghanistan’s new rulers have said they will invite former military personnel to join the country’s revamped security forces and that they will come to no harm.

Reuters spoke with Afghan pilots and found that the offer is hollow. Before the Taliban overthrow, U.S.-trained pilots who speak English were the main target. Taliban fighters tracked down the pilots and executed them from their base. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-pilots-assassinated-by-taliban-us-withdraws-2021-07-09

The pilots did not express concern the Tajiks will send this group back to the Taliban. After more than one month of the operation, the pilots and supporters are still unhappy about the lack of urgency from authorities in moving this group forward.

Reuters learned from the U.S. that they have begun collecting biometric data to verify the identity of those in the group. This is a signal that assistance could be coming soon. The pilots who were transferred from Uzbekistan had been preceded by a similar effort.

Sources close to pilots claim that the United States collected biometric data about approximately half of those involved.

Paul Stronski is a senior associate at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He believes that Emomali Rahmon (Tajikistan’s president) may feel proud about his participation in receiving pilots after the Taliban took power.

Tajikistan has a porous border of 835 miles (1,345km) with Afghanistan. However, it is now openly vocal about its concern over the Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Stronski explained that “The Tajik Government is likely to play this to get some advantage.” Rahmon might be able to say that there is no national urgency and “We’re housing them.” Although there is no data on the number of Tajiks living in Afghanistan, about 25% are thought to be Tajiks. Rahmon made it clear that they, and other minorities, aren’t represented in Taliban’s interim government.

According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Rahmon said last week that “Foisting any political structure in Kabul without respect for the voice and feelings of Afghan people which consists of many ethnicities may have serious negative consequences.”

Tajikistan claims it has granted asylum to over 3,000 Afghan refugee families, or 15,000 persons, during the last 15 years.

According to a source close to the Tajik government, delays in issuing visas by Canada and the United States are the reason for the current situation.

NO PHONES, FOR SAFETY’S SAKE

When the Tajik government confiscated the Afghans’ phones, it told the pilots it was for their safety, explaining the Taliban could trace their signal when they called home.

The second pilot’s story was recounted by a Tajik official.

A source in the Tajik government also stated that phones belonging to Afghans had been taken so their precise location couldn’t be traced.

The psychological effects of being cut off completely from communication has been severe. Pilots fear that their Afghan families could be subject to Taliban reprisals. They also don’t have the income they need because of the loss in war.

A second pilot described seeing patients pacing in front of the hospital at midnight.

When I asked them why, they said: “I am not relaxed. I’m thinking of my family.”

American nurse who is a dual U.S./Afghan citizen, has only rarely spoken with her fiance. They took a short break after the technical glitch where the pilot’s voice became loopy, which caused them to lose their calls.

After calling U.S. legislators and officials, the nurse seemed exhausted and frustrated.

“I’ve reached out and helped literally every person I could.” “Noone has been able help.”