A defense ministry spokesman told AFP on Monday that an Afghan military plane had crashed Sunday evening in Uzbekistan, a former Soviet republic in the Middle East that shares a border with Afghanistan.

“The military plane crossed the border into Uzbekistan illegally and an investigation is underway,” said Bakrom Zulfikarov, a spokesman for the Uzbek media, which confirmed that Uzbek media had crashed in the province of Sourkhondario, which shares a border with Afghanistan.

It may have been a plane that took off from Kabul after the Taliban captured the city on Sunday, prompting foreign nationals and several Afghans to make a tragic attempt to leave the country. When an airlift was installed at the Hamid Karzai Airport in Kabul, the runways in Afghanistan were flooded, causing commercial flights to be canceled.

Deserts?

At the airport, military planes evacuated mainly Americans, diplomats and their local staff.

Dr Beckpoulet Okbov, of a hospital in the province of Surkhondario, told the AFP on Monday that two patients wearing Afghan Armed Forces uniforms had been admitted to a hospital there on Sunday evening. He said one of the patients was ejected “with a parachute” and both suffered fractures. According to the same source, three other Afghan soldiers were hospitalized on Saturday.

Crucial American support was lost, and Afghan units attempted to flee to Central Asian countries, especially Uzbekistan, after the Taliban launched an offensive, taking advantage of the withdrawal of US troops and the United States. .

On Sunday, Uzbek forces arrested 84 Afghan soldiers who had fled to Uzbekistan to escape a Taliban attack on the border.

Avoid airspace “until further notice”

Meanwhile, the Afghan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) said on Monday that the Afghan airspace was being handed over to the military and that all civilian aircraft were required to avoid it. In the process, Lufthansa and Air France, the first European airline group, announced that they would waive Afghanistan “until further notice”. British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have indicated that they will not use the Afghan airspace.

At a glance (“Notice to Air Force” or message to airmen), the ACAA “advises to divert aircraft in transit”. “Any traffic through the Kabul airspace will be unrestricted,” she added.

For Air France, the exclusion of Afghanistan leads to the diversion of flights to Bangkok, Ho Chi Minh City, Delhi and Singapore. France has scheduled its first flight to the region on Monday evening using two C130 and A400M transport planes from Kabul.