Afghan air force gets two transport aircrafts.

Two of the 20 C-27A medium-sized military transport aircraft pledged by the US were handed over to the Afghan Air Forces on Sunday, an official said. Corps Chief of Staff General Abdul Wahab Wardak said the US military would give Afghanistan 20 refurbished transport planes over the next two years, doubling the size of its depleted air force.

Two of the C-27A medium-sized military transport aircraft, manufactured by Italy's Alenia Aeronautica, have been delivered, he said. NATO and US forces top commander General Stanley McChrystal at a military ceremony in Kabul said the remainder of the twin-engine, turbo-prop planes would be delivered by 2011.

He said pilots of the air corps gained the ability to conduct airlift missions similar with those done by coalition forces in defence of their country after the delivery of the C-27s. When the Taliban came into power in 1995, the air force quickly fell into disrepair and much of the equipment that had not already fallen into the hands of warlords was destroyed when US-backed Afghan forces toppled their regime in late 2001, Wardak said. "With the arrival of new aircraft our air force will have 40 aircraft including nine helicopters," he said.

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