AAF can strike everywhere in the country: Minister

KABUL (Pajhwok): Defence Minister Gen. Abdullah Habibi on Wednesday said the Afghan Air Force (AAF) was being strengthened, but had international aid been properly used on the defence sector, the AAF would now have been a more powerful force.

The minister expressed these views at a gathering a marking the AAF’s 95^th anniversary. Habibi said the Afghan Air Force had been struggling for some years, but now it had the ability to conduct airstrikes in every part of the country against insurgents.

“The Air Force fighter jets conducted successful operations against insurgents in Nangarhar, Uruzgan, Kunduz and Helmand provinces and defeated the enemy this year,” the minister said.

He said the Afghanistan air fleet had now MD 530 and A-29 fighter jets which played effective role in elimination of terrorists.

Habibi lashed out at what he called extravagance spending by the previous government and said Afghanistan failed to develop and train a profession army and air forces in the past decade.

He did not go into details but said: “Unfortunately a huge amount of money was not spent in a proper way and we could not develop a strong army.”

He said the AAF was incepted almost a century ago and it was Ghazi Amanullah Khan who bought two fighter jets from Russia.

He said the AAF officials were committed to protecting the Afghanistan air and territorial integrity at the cost of their lives.

nh/ma

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