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— The number of fully-qualified Afghan air force pilots (15% of the 47 required) for the country’s Special Mission Wing. Despite the lack of pilots – and numerous other shortfalls – the U.S. is pressing ahead with plans to buy $772 million worth of aircraft “that the Afghans cannot operate and maintain,” according to a new report, here, from the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. And you can’t even blame the rush on U.S. contractors: the 18 new planes are Brazilian-designed, and the 30 helicopters are Russian-built.
The Afghan air force's new light-attack plane.
