Islamabad
CNN
—
The first time he flew his cargo plane through the clouds over his hometown of Kabul, Tauheed Khan swelled with pride.
“I flew over my childhood home,” he told CNN, on a quiet spring morning in the Pakistani capital Islamabad. “And I was so proud, there was so much joy that I can still taste it, still feel it in my heart.”
During the US-led, 20-year war against the Taliban, Afghan Air Force pilots played a key role alongside American counterparts, some carrying out strikes that inflicted heavy casualties on the hardline Islamists.
That coalition ended in August 2021, when foreign troops withdrew and Kabul fell to the…
