On July 27, 2021, DPPC Advisory Board Members Haji Ajmal Rahmani, Mir Haidar Afzaly, and Naheed Farid, tell Reuters news service that the Afghan Air Force needs targeted support from the US to stop the Taliban on the battlefield.

"We need more support for the AF (Afghan Air Force)," Haji Ajmal Rahmani, the Afghan parliament majority whip and son of the lower house speaker, told a webinar sponsored by the State Department Correspondents Association. One-third of the fleet of about 160 aircraft is inoperable because of a spare parts shortage or the departure of Pentagon maintenance contractors, (Mr. Rahmani) said.

Mir Haidar Afzali, the parliamentary defense committee chairman, said the Taliban have shot down some Russian-made helicopters. Other aircraft, (Mr. Afzaly) said, have reached their lifespan limits, and the Taliban have assassinated more than 10 Afghan pilots.

"If those aircraft cannot fly and cannot target the gatherings of Taliban and then the Taliban become stronger and they storm into the cities, they will create a terrible situation for women," said Naheed Farid, a lawmaker from Herat, who called the insurgents "the army of darkness."