Every war the Afghan Air Force has fought
Afghanistan’s air force has fought for several governments: the monarchy, the communist government and its Soviet allies, rival factions in the 1990s, the Islamic Republic until its collapse in August 2021, and since then the Taliban’s Islamic Emirate, which most states do not recognise. Claims from the 2026 war with Pakistan, by the Taliban-led Ministry of Defence and by Pakistani officials, have not been independently confirmed and are attributed. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the Khost rebellion of 1924 to the war with Pakistan in 2026.
| Conflict | Years | Against | Main aircraft | Sorties | Aircraft lost | |
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| The Khost rebellionMangal uprisingAfghan air arm | 1924–1925 | Tribal insurgents in the Khost region | Soviet-supplied aircraft, largely flown by Soviet pilots | |||
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The new air arm’s first action, against a tribal rising in the south-east. Wikipedia records that the new air force first saw action in 1924 and 1925 against the Khost rebellion. It was a small force of Soviet and British machines, and for its first decade Soviet pilots did most of the flying. No figures for sorties or losses were found. Outcome The rising was put down in 1925. The role of Soviet pilots in the fighting and any casualties from air attack could not be confirmed.
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| The Afghan civil warthe fall of AmanullahAfghan air arm | 1928–1929 | Saqqawist forces of Habibullah Kalakani | Polikarpov R-1 and other Soviet and British types | |||
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Flew for King Amanullah against the rebellion that overthrew him. The civil war that began in December 1928 wrecked the first air force. English Wikipedia says most aircraft were destroyed; Russian Wikipedia says the air force was dissolved in 1929 and re-formed in 1937. It was the first time an Afghan air force died with the government that created it; it would not be the last. Outcome Amanullah was overthrown; the air force was dissolved in 1929 and only rebuilt from 1937. Details of air operations in the civil war were not found in the sources reached.
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| The Saur Revolutionthe 1978 coupAfghan Air Force | 1978 | Forces loyal to President Mohammed Daoud Khan | Su-7, MiG-21 | |||
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Communist officers seized Bagram and attacked the presidential palace from the air. On 27 April 1978 Colonel Abdul Qadir flew by helicopter to Bagram, took control of the MiG-21-equipped 322nd Air Regiment and directed the air side of the coup, while tanks under Aslam Watanjar attacked in Kabul. In the late afternoon Su-7s came in low and fired rockets at the Arg, the palace in the centre of the city; around midnight six Su-7s attacked repeatedly. Daoud was killed. The air force had made a revolution, and its commander became one of the new regime’s leading figures. Outcome Daoud was killed and the People’s Democratic Party took power. Casualty figures are disputed: Western estimates of about 2,000 dead against about 40 claimed by Gen. Nabi Azimi.
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| The Soviet–Afghan Warincluding the Herat uprising and the 1989–92 warAfghan Air Force (Democratic Republic of Afghanistan) | 1979–1992 | Afghan mujahideen and Pakistan (border incidents) | MiG-17, MiG-21, Su-7and 5 more | 617 | ||
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Close support, bombing and transport for the government and Soviet forces against the mujahideen. The air war began before the invasion: in March 1979 Il-28s from Shindand bombed Herat during an uprising whose death toll is estimated at between 3,000 and 25,000. After Soviet forces arrived in December 1979 the Afghan air force grew to perhaps 400 aircraft, with regiments at Kabul, Bagram, Shindand and Kandahar and many aircraft crewed or serviced by Soviet, Czechoslovak and Cuban advisers. A status report of 1 February 1986 cited by Wikipedia gives 226 aircraft, 217 combat-ready, and 89 helicopters. Pakistan’s F-16s, by the PAF’s count, shot down at least eight intruders from Afghanistan between May 1986 and November 1988, including Afghan Su-22s and an An-26. After the Soviet withdrawal the air force kept Najibullah in power through the failed coup of 6 March 1990, when pilots loyal to Shahnawaz Tanai bombed Kabul. The war killed between one and three million Afghans by the range of estimates on Wikipedia. Outcome The Soviet army left on 15 February 1989; the government held on with air power until April 1992. All aircraft numbers are estimates from secondary sources; Soviet and Afghan archives were not checked. The PAF kill list is Pakistan’s count; the Afghan government’s position on those incidents was not found.
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| The Afghan civil warsfactions and the TalibanFactional air arms, then the Taliban air arm | 1992–2001 | Rival mujahideen factions and Northern Alliance (United Front) | MiG-21MF, Su-22, L-39Cand 4 more | |||
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Remnants of the air force fought for rival factions; from 1996 the Taliban flew MiG-21s and Su-22s against the Northern Alliance. When Najibullah fell in April 1992 the air force was divided among the victors; Abdul Rashid Dostum kept an air arm in the north. The Taliban, who took Kandahar in 1994 and Kabul in 1996, inherited aircraft at both and, unusually, kept the old command structure and invited former communist pilots to fly for them. Wikipedia’s late-1990s count is five MiG-21MFs, ten Su-22s, six Mi-8s, five Mi-35s, five L-39Cs, six An-12s and about 25 An-26s. On 3 August 1995 a Taliban MiG-21 forced a Russian Il-76 to land at Kandahar; the seven crew were held for a year before escaping in the aircraft. Outcome The Taliban controlled most of the country and its air arm until late 2001. Inventory figures are estimates; the Northern Alliance’s own air arm is not covered here.
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| The US-led interventionOperation Enduring Freedom, 2001Taliban air arm | 2001 | United States and coalition and Northern Alliance | MiG-21, Su-22, Mi-8/17 | |||
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The Taliban air arm was a target rather than a combatant. US and coalition strikes from 7 October 2001 destroyed most Taliban aviation; Russian Wikipedia says most of it was destroyed in the autumn campaign, and English Wikipedia that only a few helicopters of the air force remained. The rebuilding that followed started from almost nothing. Outcome The Taliban government fell in November–December 2001. No count of Taliban aircraft destroyed was found in the sources reached.
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| The war against the Taliban insurgencyIslamic Republic of Afghanistan, 2005–2021Afghan National Army Air Corps, Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing | 2005–2021 | Taliban and Islamic State Khorasan Province | Mi-17, UH-60A, MD 530Fand 5 more | |||
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Troop transport, casualty evacuation, resupply and, from 2015, close air support with MD-530s, A-29s and AC-208s. With the end of the ISAF combat mission in January 2015 and the drawdown of coalition air power, the Afghan Air Force had to provide its own fire support. MD-530s went into action in Nangarhar in 2015; A-29s followed in 2016 and on 22 March 2018 an Afghan A-29 dropped a GBU-58 laser-guided bomb on a Taliban compound in Farah, chosen, Resolute Support said, to avoid collateral damage near civilians. By the end of 2020 the DoD judged the air force able to plan and fly day and night strikes on its own, but still dependent on contractor logistics. UNAMA recorded that civilian casualties from Afghan Air Force strikes rose 126 per cent in 2020, the most it had attributed to the air force since 2009. Croatian and other NATO advisory teams mentored the Mi-17 crews; the US and NATO trained the rest. Outcome The Islamic Republic and its air force collapsed in August 2021. Afghan Ministry of Defence strike and sortie figures were not independently verified. UNAMA’s figures are its own documentation; the Afghan government’s response was not checked.
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| The Taliban offensive and the fall of the Islamic RepublicMay–August 2021Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing | 2021 | Taliban | A-29, UH-60A, Mi-17and 4 more | |||
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Flew the government’s last strikes and resupply missions, then evacuated aircraft abroad. US contractors withdrew in May and June 2021, and SIGAR later reported that about 60 per cent of Black Hawks were grounded within months; pilots were targeted for assassination off base. As provincial capitals fell, crews flew aircraft north. Uzbekistan said 22 aircraft and 24 helicopters had been "forced" to land at Termez, with 585 personnel by Wikipedia’s count; The War Zone identified at least six A-29s, about 11 PC-12s, about seven Black Hawks and about 19 Mi-17-type helicopters on satellite imagery. At Bokhtar in Tajikistan about 150 personnel arrived, 143 of them pilots per The Diplomat, and were held in a sanatorium until flown to the UAE on 9 November 2021. At Kabul airport US forces disabled the aircraft they left behind. Outcome Kabul fell on 15 August 2021; the air force as a state institution ended, and its remaining aircraft passed to the Taliban. Aircraft counts vary between Uzbek statements, satellite analysis and later reporting; the number of aircraft that reached Tajikistan was not confirmed (Wikipedia mentions two aircraft). The number disabled at Kabul (73, per Wikipedia) could not be confirmed from a US government page.
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| The October 2025 Afghanistan–Pakistan clashesOperation Khyber StormAir arm of the Islamic Emirate | 2025 | Pakistan | ||||
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No documented air role; the Taliban retaliated on the ground while Pakistan struck from the air. Between 9 and 19 October 2025 Pakistan carried out air and drone strikes in Afghanistan, saying it was targeting the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban (TTP), including its leader Noor Wali Mehsud, who survived. Wikipedia’s account records no Afghan air force or drone involvement; the Taliban answered with ground attacks on Pakistani border posts. It showed the limits of an air arm with no fighters and no known air defence of its own. Outcome Ceasefire agreed in Doha on 19 October 2025, mediated by Qatar and Turkey; later talks in Istanbul broke down. All casualty figures are each side’s own claims except UNAMA’s civilian figures; this account relies on Wikipedia’s summary of media reporting.
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| The 2026 Afghanistan–Pakistan warPakistani air strikes and Taliban drone claimsAir arm of the Islamic Emirate | 2026– | Pakistan | Drones | |||
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Target of Pakistani air strikes; the Taliban-led Ministry of Defence claimed drone strikes on Pakistani military sites. Pakistan began air strikes on 21 February 2026 against what it called TTP and Islamic State camps, then widened them to Kabul, Kandahar, Jalalabad airport and, on 1 March, Bagram. On 27 February the Taliban-led Ministry of Defence announced "airstrikes" on Pakistani military sites at Faizabad, Nowshera, Jamrud and Abbottabad; Pakistan denied some of the strikes and said it had intercepted drones. On 28 February Afghan forces claimed to have shot down a Pakistani fighter over Jalalabad; the man captured turned out to be a civilian parachutist, and Pakistan called the claim propaganda. Afghanistan’s Ministry of Defence also said air-defence fire had been directed at Pakistani aircraft over Kabul. Outcome Ongoing at the time of checking; no lasting ceasefire. Every loss claim here is one side’s claim; none has been independently confirmed. The account relies on Wikipedia’s summary of media reports, including The New York Times for the Bagram claim.
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Nothing matches that search.
Every figure, checked
- US Department of Defense: Enhancing Security and Stability in Afghanistan (December 2020)The six A-29s used for training at Moody were being shipped to Afghanistan, bringing the fleet to 24; the AAF could plan and fly day and night strikes independently but would rely on contractor logistics support.
- SIGAR 23-16-IP: Why the Afghan Security Forces Collapsed (February 2023)The US provided about 300 aircraft; the AAF was not expected to be self-sufficient until at least 2030; Afghan maintainers did at most 40 per cent of maintenance; former generals said about 60 per cent of Black Hawks were grounded within months of contractors leaving in 2021; AAF pilots flew several aircraft to Central Asia.
- UNAMA: Afghanistan Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict, Annual Report 2020693 civilian casualties from airstrikes in 2020 (341 killed, 352 injured); Afghan Air Force airstrike casualties up 126 per cent, the highest since systematic documentation began in 2009, and 76 per cent of all airstrike civilian casualties.
- NATO: Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan (2015–2021)Mission from 1 January 2015 to September 2021; hub at Kabul/Bagram and spokes at Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, Kandahar and Laghman; withdrawal decided 14 April 2021.
- The War Zone: Dozens of U.S.-bought Afghan Air Force aircraft are now orphaned at an Uzbek airfield (18 August 2021)Satellite image of 16 August 2021 at Termez: 22 fixed-wing and about 24–26 helicopters, including at least six A-29s, at least five C-208/AC-208s, about 11 PC-12NGs, about seven UH-60s and about 19 Mi-8/17s; one A-29 lost in Uzbekistan, reportedly after a collision with an Uzbek MiG-29; Uzbekistan said 46 aircraft had been forced to land.
- The War Zone: Afghan pilots that fled to Tajikistan are finally about to leave with U.S. help (10 November 2021)About 150 AAF personnel in Tajikistan; roughly a quarter of the AAF inventory escaped to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan combined.
- The Diplomat: Afghan pilots held in Tajikistan finally out (November 2021)191 Afghans, 143 of them pilots, flown from Tajikistan to the UAE on 9 November 2021 after nearly three months in a dormitory and a sanatorium; Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said there was no plan to arrest them.
- Khaama Press: US and Uzbekistan agree on Afghanistan military aircraft (27 August 2024)US Ambassador Jonathan Henick: the equipment will stay in Uzbekistan; types Mi-17, UH-60, PC-12, C-208, AC-208, A-29; Uzbekistan reported 22 aircraft and 24 helicopters on 15 August 2021; Taliban defence minister Mohammad Yaqoob warned Uzbekistan and Tajikistan.
- Khaama Press: Insight into AAF’s A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft (16 April 2016)Eight A-29s in service, the last four added in late March 2016; MoD: at least 83 missions flown in two days.
- Khaama Press: Afghan Air Force drops first laser-guided bomb on Taliban in Farah (28 March 2018)22 March 2018: an A-29 dropped a GBU-58 laser-guided bomb on a Taliban compound in Farah, per Resolute Support.
- Khaama Press: MD-530 makes successful combat debut in Nangarhar (15 August 2015)Six MD-530s delivered in the first quarter of 2015; 16 expected by early 2016; combat debut in Nangarhar.
- Croatian Ministry of Defence: Training completed for the 15th HRVCON KFOR and 10th Mi-17 AAT ISAF (February 2014)Croatia’s Mi-17 Air Advisory Team mentored pilots and aircrew of the Afghan Air Force under ISAF.
Figures verified 2026-09-30. Back to the Afghan Air Force.