Afghan air force taking off -- again

Afghan pilot Habibullah Khushiwal feels lucky to be alive after years of dangerous flying, sometimes at gunpoint and frequently in impossible conditions during Afghanistan's years of devastating war.

One of his hairiest trips was in 1993, when one armed faction ordered him to bring a mujahedin commander to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif from a remote area hundreds of kilometres away.

The Soviet chopper was meant for 24 people; he was forced to load up 65 men -- the commander and his fighters.

"I was afraid but if I did not do it, they would have killed me there," says Khushiwal, who was then in his early 20s.

"I thought, if I am going to die, it would be better to die among all these people than if they kill me."

Somehow the pilot managed. "The helicopter was generous and delivered us to Mazar but every moment was dangerous," he remembers.

These were wild rides in turbulent times with Afghan pilots forced to fly whichever fighters held sway.

For Khushiwal, this included the Taliban, who pitched up at his home shortly after they took power in 1996 and ordered him back to work.

The US-led invasion to oust the Islamist fundamentalists in 2001 finished off the last remnants of the Soviet-built air force, which at its heyday boasted a fleet of more than 350 aircraft, including fighter jets and bombers.

Major General Mohammad Darwan, a Soviet-trained fighter pilot and cosmonaut who commands today's US-backed Afghan National Army Air Corps, remembers coming back to the Kabul airfield after the Taliban fled.

"We had nothing. We even did not have chairs, we had to sit on the floor," he says. "We had damaged aircraft, bombed aircraft all around the airfield. It was dreadful to see."

The Taliban ouster, which followed its failure to hand over Al-Qaeda leaders after the September 11 attacks on the United States in 2001, kicked off Western-led efforts to build and stabilise the ruined nation.

The United States has taken the lead in training and equipping Afghan troops to fight a Taliban-led insurgency -- including the revival of the air force.

Training is a priority underscored by US President Barack Obama by pledging 4,000 extra military trainers this year, almost doubling the number already working with Afghan forces.

Air power -- critical in a land of mountains, deserts, poor roads and a constant threat of roadside bombs -- is largely provided by the United States.

The Afghan air force has around 35 aircraft, most of them refurbished Soviet choppers and cargo planes familiar to the 187 Soviet-trained pilots, their average age 45.

The aim is to have 128 aircraft by 2016 and there is pressure for Afghan pilots and jets to join the fight.

A brand new 183-million-dollar base, paid for by the United States, opened this year -- a spotless facility of offices, accommodation, a clinic, gym and training areas.

"We are building something new, not just trying to recreate the old or repair the old," says US Brigadier General Walter Givhan, who heads the American effort to re-establish the Afghan air corps.

"It is exciting: you feel there is a sense of urgency because there is a war going on and the country needs this, but this is also something that takes time," said the commander.

Still in training, the Afghan air corps is already at work: it rescued at least 1,200 people from flooding in northern Afghanistan this month and helps the national bank move cash to the provinces, with major roads too risky.

It transports President Hamid Karzai around the country, soldiers from base to base and delivers logistical supplies to troops on the ground.

But taking over combat missions such as air strikes on militants, which have caused controversy due to the number of civilians they have killed, is still a way off.

Even the better Afghan pilots are capable only of basic trips like flying between bases, says US instructor Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Jones, who mentored Khushiwal and others for six months.

"When things go wrong and they are not trained, they don't have the tricks that they need to get out of a bad situation," he says.

There have been eight helicopter crashes in the past two years with five of the choppers written off.

About 90 pilots, Khushiwal among them, are heading to the United States for pilot and instrument training, including at the US Army Air Defence Artillery School at Fort Bliss, Texas. Twenty-four left this month.

"The intent is to have the Afghan security forces fight terrorism and the enemies on the frontlines," says Darwan.

"We can be capable of conducting those operations only when our air force is capable of supporting the ground forces."