By Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – The United States plans to relocate approximately 150 U.S.-trained Afghan Air Force pilots who were detained in Tajikistan more than two years after their flight at the end the Afghan war.

An official from the State Department spoke under anonymity and declined to give a time frame for the transfer, but stated that the United States would like to release all those currently held. Details of the U.S. plan were not reported previously.

Reuters only reported the first person accounts of 143 U.S.-trained Afghan staff held in a sanatorium located in a remote mountainous area near Dushanbe. They were waiting for a U.S. departure to a third nation and eventual resettlement.

The smugglers spoke about how their cell phones were hidden from guards. They claim that they have been stripped of their identities documents and phones.

There are 13 Afghan troops in Dushanbe. They are enjoying more comfortable conditions and told Reuters that they also await a U.S. Transfer. The two men arrived separately in the country.

In Tajikistan, U.S. pilots are believed to have left the Afghan contingent. This is after Uzbekistan’s advanced military aircraft flew over the Afghan border in August.

A U.S.-brokered agreement allowed for a greater number of Afghan pilots to fly out of Uzbekistan into the United Arab Emirates in September.

Two Afghan pilots detained in Tajikistan claimed that their hope was restored by U.S. officials visiting Dushanbe.

The pilots claimed that U.S. officials provided biometric data to enable them to identify Afghans, despite the fact they did not give them a specific departure date. The last thing the Afghan pilots had to do before departing Uzbekistan was this.

PREGNANT AFGHAN PLOT

U.S. military veterans and lawmakers who have fought for pilots’ rights have voiced deep dissatisfaction at President Joe Biden’s inability to quickly evacuate Afghan troops.

Lloyd Austin, the Defense Secretary, was confronted by Congress about the subject last month.

Reuters previously reported that the U.S. had difficulties gaining Tajik entry to Afghans. This includes an Afghan Air Force pilot eight months pregnant.

Interview with Reuters: The 29-year old pilot expressed concerns about her safety and that of her infant at the remote sanatorium. After expressing her concerns, she was moved to a maternity unit.

We are prisoners in this place. Not even like refugees, not even like immigrants. She said that we don’t have the legal documentation or means to purchase something ourselves.”

According to a U.S. State Department official, the pregnant pilot will be part of the Tajikistan relocation.

The Taliban had already made the pilots, who were American-trained and fluent in English, their prime target. This was despite the fact that they suffered a lot of damage during the war. They assassinated the pilots off-base after tracking them down.

Afghanistan’s new rulers announced that they would invite ex-military personnel to rejoin the reformed security forces. They also promised no harm.

Reuters speaks with Afghan pilots saying they fear they’ll be executed if the return to Afghanistan.