In 1998, Bout’s companies sold Taliban transport planes that, despite being operated by military pilots and owned by the Taliban air force, occasionally sported the recognizable blue and white paint scheme of Ariana Airlines and civilian registrations
Viktor Bout, a Russian entrepreneur who rose to prominence as the world’s foremost arms dealer and whose Il-76 was forced to make an embarrassing emergency landing at Kandahar in 1995 by a Taliban jet, is said to have started doing business with the Islamic movement soon after this embarrassing incident. He served everyone who was prepared to pay throughout his career in the transportation business, cultivating business in regions where others would not have dared to go. He was never driven by ideology or sympathy for a particular warring side.
According to Lukas Müller’s account in his book Wings Over the Hindu Kush Air Forces, Aircraft and Air Warfare of Afghanistan, 1989-2001, Bout had made initial contacts with the internationally recognized government of Burhanuddin Rabbani in Afghanistan. Beginning in 1994 (some sources claim as early as 1992), his transport aircraft routinely showed up at government-controlled airports, bringing in small arms and ammunition from Albania and other Eastern European countries.
Even after the fall of Najibullah and the dissolution of the USSR, many mujahideen leaders remained vehemently opposed to Russia, but the Rabbani government adopted a more pragmatic stance and even welcomed the entrepreneur who could make things happen. Bout made multiple trips to Afghanistan on his own, taking advantage of hunting excursions his hosts organized for him to foster business ties. Bout’s assistance was vital for Rabbani and Massoud because their government had little opportunity to purchase military equipment from outside sources in the early years. Later, in an interview, Bout declared: “I had a major pact with the Rabbani government. We sustained them.”
It was only a matter of time before something went wrong as the Taliban put the MiGs they had taken in Kandahar to use. The crew of Bout’s Il-76, which the Taliban forced to touch down at Kandahar Airport, was said to have been aware that the Taliban’s air force patrolled the area surrounding the city and that it was crucial to maintain a safe distance during flights from the emirate of Sharjah, where Bout had established his headquarters, to Kabul and back. The crew eventually flew too near to the Taliban AF operational area during the tragic trip, or the Taliban pilots purposely pursued the Russian aircraft even though it had avoided the Kandahar area.
Although specific details are still unknown, Viktor Bout may have made his first contact with the Islamic movement soon after it was able to intercept his Ilyushin. Yet, it is undeniable that Bout’s business relations with the Taliban reached an unprecedented level in the initial months following Kabul’s fall in 1996. At about the same time, Mansour, the head of the Taliban air force, personally selected Farid Ahmed, a Taliban agent, to take over as the new station manager for Ariana Afghan Airlines in Sharjah.
The Taliban wanted to find alternative sources of weapons to lessen their dependence on Pakistan, which reportedly only permitted shipments of war material to the Taliban after a specific operation was approved by Pakistani decision-makers, despite the fact that relations between the Taliban and their Pakistani patrons were generally good.
Because of this, the Taliban sought to create its own supply lines. Bout was ready to help. His transport aircraft began routinely flying from Sharjah to airports in Afghanistan as of the end of 1996, bringing with them small arms, ammunition, satellite phones, as well as food, refrigerators, and other commercial supplies. But, this was simply the start of much more extensive activities. Bout gradually became an important partner to the Taliban because he was willing to take risks and was actually able to provide what his economic customer needed, which helped the Islamic movement overcome its increasing isolation on the international scene because of its refusal to extradite Osama bin Laden, a poor human rights record, and numerous other factors.
Documents discovered in Kabul after the Taliban regime was overthrown show that Bout’s companies began selling the Taliban transport planes in 1998. These planes were operated by military pilots and were owned by the Taliban air force, but they occasionally had the distinctive blue and white paint scheme of Ariana Airlines and civilian registrations. According to reports, Bout’s Air Cess and his Emirati business associate Flying Dolphin delivered a total of seven Antonov aircraft to the Taliban. Four of them frequently flew to Sharjah while posing as Ariana machines.
In one case, the manager of the Aerovista company that had previously held the aircraft said that the An-24 the Taliban purchased was in such bad condition that it could not be sold to anybody else.
Since the Taliban took control of Kabul in 1996, they employed Arian Airlines for military purposes. Over time, this involvement with military shipments, al-Qaeda terrorists, drugs, and other illicit cargo increased to the point where the airline practically merged with the Taliban air force, despite the fact that the majority of the staff at Ariana was still made up of civilians who were not particularly pleased with the way things were going. In addition to arranging for the aircraft’s paintwork, Bout also handled their maintenance and servicing. His ground staff in Sharjah often changed the registrations of Ariana planes to make it more difficult to track them.
Strangely, Bout continued to work for the overthrown Rabbani government even as he forged closer commercial ties with the Taliban. He stated in an interview that he flew military supplies for the United Front until they lost their final suitable airfields, and other sources support his statement. This most likely indicates that he flew shipments until Mazar-e Sharif fell in August 1998. A close Bout associate commented: “He was flying for the Taliban while flying for Massoud and the Northern Alliance. Of course, he was. He was a friend to everyone. They tolerated this because they had no alternative. No one else would deliver the packages.”‘
Up until the early 2000s, Sharjah International Airport was the Taliban’s principal entry point to the outside world. Sharjah, one of the Emirates, whose free trade zone was renowned for its lax oversight and close ties to Islamic radicals, became the Taliban’s primary shopping destination as one of the three nations that had granted the Taliban government diplomatic recognition. Depending on the time of year, the Ariana transport planes, some of which were actually Taliban air force transports, occasionally made three landings in Sharjah each day in 2000. The UN was aware that these flights were likely transporting weapons, drugs, and terrorists.
Due to the UN’s decision to sanction the Taliban government further (including by placing an arms embargo) in late 2000 in response to these concerns, Ariana was unable to travel internationally. From that point on, Bout’s aircraft, which primarily flew to Kabul and Kandahar, were responsible for ensuring a consistent flow of military supplies and Islamist extremists into Afghanistan. Viktor Bout was eventually targeted by American and international investigators because of his assistance with the Taliban. In 2008, seven years after the Taliban government was overthrown, Bout was detained in Thailand and extradited to the US, where he was given a 25-year jail sentence.
Wings Over the Hindu Kush Air Forces, Aircraft and Air Warfare of Afghanistan, 1989-2001 is published by Helion & Company and is available to order here.
Photo by Bob Adams from George, South Africa and Dmitry Avdeev via Wikipedia and Drug Enforcement Administration