From the above report:
Uzbekistan said it shot down an Afghan fighter plane and forced the landing of 22 military planes and 24 military helicopters carrying nearly 600 Afghan troops that 'illegally' crossed its border at the weekend when the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.
The 46 Afghan aircrafts carrying 585 troops were 'forcibly landed' at Termez aiport in southern Uzbekistan on Saturday and Sunday after they had fled the Taliban, the country's state prosecutor said. …
The men were offered food and temporary accommodation in Uzbekistan, and the statement said Uzbekistan was negotiating with the 'Afghan side' over their return home.
Caroline Tabler, a communications director for U.S. Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, said the GOP lawmaker's office was working urgently to support Afghan pilots fleeing from the Taliban to Uzbekistan.
'We're working with an intermediary who's been in touch with the pilots,' she told the AP. “We have not heard from them since last night (Washington) time. We know Uzbekistan has taken their cellphones. Our primary concern is making sure Uzbekistan does not turn them over to the Taliban. We are frantically reaching out to the State Department on this case and trying to get them asylum and literally can't get a response.'
Uzbekistan's neighbour Tajikistan said Monday it had allowed over 100 Afghan military members to land at Bokhtar airport in the south of the country.
'Tajikistan received SOS signals, after which, in accordance with the country's international obligations, it was decided to allow Afghan servicemen to land at the airport,' the Tajik foreign ministry's information department told Russian news agencies Interfax and RIA Novosti.
RIA Novosti reported that three planes carrying the soldiers had landed in Bokhtar during the night…..