Seven UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and military equipment are set to be delivered to Afghanistan next week as part of the international community’s support for the national defense forces amid foreign troop withdrawal, Afghanistan’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Geran Hivad told Sputnik.
“To support the country’s defense forces, seven UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and the necessary military equipment are to be delivered to Afghanistan next week,” Hivad said.
As per the developer Lockheed Martin, the Black Hawk helicopter is operational with the United States and armed forces of 28 other countries.
During the last 40 years, the Black Hawks have operated in countless conflict zones, deployed and vacated troops, saved lives as a casualty evacuation platform, provided crucial supplies to troops, delivered emergency support during natural catastrophes, and performed as an aerial firefighter and border patroller.
Now the modern variant of this Black Hawk helicopter is taking on a new mission set — as an Armed Helicopter to provide fire suppression when supporting ground troops, as well as armed escort.
With digital avionics, powerful engines, potent airframe structures and composite wide chord rotor blades, today’s Black Hawk platform has better survivability and situational awareness and can fly higher and carry more than its predecessors ever did.
Meanwhile, the Taliban and on a rampage and have taken control of three more districts in northern and northeastern Afghan provinces as the confrontation with government forces continues, the radical movement’s spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, said on Wednesday.
The Taliban and the Afghan government started a new peace negotiation in Tehran earlier in the day.
“They captured the Wakhan district center of Badakhshan [province], the Qadis district center of Badghis, and Badpakh district center of Laghman last night and this morning,” Mujahid said.
During the fighting for Wakhan, the government forces had to retreat across the border to Tajikistan, the spokesman said.
He told Sputnik that some of the high-ranking local officials and military pledged allegiance to the Taliban.
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“Khwaja Murad, the security chief of Qala-e-Naw, the capital of Badghis province, and Khudaidad Tayeb, the district governor of Ab Kamari, as well as other senior commanders, including 200 army, policemen and local policemen joined the Mujahideen,” he said.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense, in turn, said that 261 Taliban militants were killed and more than 200 others were injured as a result of the army’s land and air operations.
Violence has been on the rise in Afghanistan ever since international troops began to withdraw in May. A source in Dushanbe told Sputnik on Monday that the Taliban were in control of over 70% of the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan.
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