The Afghan Air Force or Afghan National Army Air Force (Pashto: د افغانستان هواي اوردو ; Persian: قوای هوایی اردوی ملی افغانستان), formerly the Afghan National Army Air Corps, is a branch of the military of Afghanistan that is responsible for air defense and air warfare. Major General Abdul Wahab Wardak is the current Commander of the Afghan Air Force, replacing Mohammad Dawran. The Kabul International Airport serves as its main headquarters while the Shindand Air Base serves as the main training facility.
The Afghan Air Force was established in 1924 under the rule of King Amanullah Khan and upgraded by King Zahir Shah in the 1960s. During the 1980s, the Soviet Union built up the "Democratic Republic of Afghanistan Air Force", first in an attempt to defeat the mujahideen-led insurgency and, by the end of the decade, in hopes that a strong Afghan air power would preserve the pro-Soviet government of Najibullah. The collapse of Najibullah's government in 1992 and the continuation of a civil war throughout the 1990s reduced the number of Afghan aircraft to less than a dozen. During Operation Enduring Freedom in late 2001, in which the Taliban government was ousted from power, only a few helicopters remained of the Afghan Air Force.
Since 2007, the US-led, international Combined Air Power Transition Force (CAPTF) has worked to rebuild and modernize the Afghan Air Force. The CAPTF serves as the air component of the US-led, international Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan which is responsible for rebuilding the Afghan armed forces. The AAF currently has about 100 aircraft and around 5,000 active personnel. By 2016 the NATO training mission in Afghanistan wants to raise the ranks of the AAF to 8000 and increase the air fleet to 140 aircraft which are progressively getting more advanced.
Read more about Afghan Air Force: History, Organization, Future, Training, Inventory, Facilities, Insignia
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