we capture quiet a few afghan mi-24s... some were given to usa.. some to china.. meanwhile we also operated a few... n now the ones we had are sitting in junkyards.
Arthur ’at least’
2 Mi-24 were transferred to USA. This is mentioned in some detail in the book ‘The Bear Trap’. 6 Mi-24s in total defected to Pakistan during the Afghan War. One was given to USA,
one was gifted to China and one to France (or was it England?). The dates on which these 6 Mi-24s defected is given below together with the pilot(s) name and place where they landed.
Date -------- Pilot ---------- Place
13-07-1985 -------- Capt. Hussain -------- Landed at Miranshah
16-07-1985 -------- Capt. Daud -------- Landed at Miranshah
23-10-1986 -------- Major. Abdul Munir -------- Landed at Kohat
03-10-1987 -------- Capt. Nokolai Petrovich+2 -------- Landed in Mastuj
03-10-1987 -------- Maj. Yevginin Koszminin+2 -------- Landed at Miranshah
03-07-1989 -------- Capt. Sakiuulah -------- Landed at Qila Abdullah
...
From 1984 onwards the CIA had been trying, through their agents, to get an Afghan pilot to defect with an M1-24 Hind helicopter gunship. They had made contacts in Kabul and time after time I would be told at short notice that the helicopter was arriving, so would I identify a suitable landing place, warn the PAF to receive it, not shoot it down, and ensure it was not destroyed on the ground by Soviet aircraft once it had landed. Needless to say, the plane never came and I gave up alerting the Air Force for these disruptive false alarms. The problem was that the CIA expected the pilot to conform exactly to some prearranged date and time schedule for his escape. They found it hard to understand that such a plan must be simple and allow the defector complete freedom to chose the time and place. The opportunity, when it came, would be fleeting and had to be seized at once without telling the CIA in advance. In the end it was our plan that gave the CIA not one, but two, M1-24s.
I merely explained to the Party Leaders that we needed to acquire such a helicopter. They simply let it be known in Kabul that a defector would be welcome. One afternoon in mid-1985 I received a call telling me that two M1-24s had landed at Miram Shah, just inside Pakistan. Apparently, on arrival, the startled border security force officer had explained to them that they had made a mistake and landed in Pakistan; if they so wished he would turn his back while they took off again. They stayed; although one co-pilot had no idea that his captain was defecting when they took off from Kabul. Within hours we started receiving congratulatory messages; every embassy wanted to examine the helicopters. For two weeks they were kept securely at an air base before experts from the UK, West Germany, France and China were permitted to examine and photograph them. After a few weeks they were transported to the US, as, eventually, were four of the six crew members. There were other defections by Afghan pilots. The first was an MI-8 helicopter pilot early in the war. This was followed by a light aircraft. During the flight the pilot had told the co-pilot that he was heading for Pakistan to defect. The co-pilot objected violently, so the captain pulled out his pistol and shot him dead in the cockpit.
The CIA also got their hands on a SU22 fighter aircraft through the defection of an ace Afghan pilot, Captain Nabi, who for some time fought as a Mujahideen commander until petty bickering with his Party led to his opting to go to the US.
