Exclusive-Echoes, uncertainty as Afghan pilots await U.S. help in Tajikistan

FILE PHOTO: A member of the Afghan air force marshals in an A-29 Super Tucano at Hamid Karzai International Airport near Kabul, Afghanistan, January 15, 2016. Picture taken January 15, 2016. To match Special Report USA-AFGHANISTAN/PILOTS U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Nathan Lipscomb/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A U.S.-trained Afghan pilot was talking to Reuters on a smuggled cellphone from Tajikistan, where he is being held, when something strange happened - his voice started looping, repeating everything he had just said, word for word.

His fiancee, an American nurse in Florida, was on the line too and started to panic. She shouted his name, but his words kept cycling back.