Exclusive-U.S. hopes to soon relocate Afghan pilots who fled to Tajikistan, official says

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. U.S. Air Force/Tech. Sgt. Nathan Lipscomb/Handout via REUTERS//File Photo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States hopes to soon relocate around 150 U.S.-trained Afghan Air Force pilots and other personnel detained in Tajikistan for more than two months after they flew there at the end of the Afghan war, a U.S. official said.

The State Department official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, declined to offer a timeline for the transfer but said the United States wanted to move all of those held at the same time. The details of the U.S. plan have not been previously reported.