India to supply four Mi-24 gunship helicopters to Afghanistan

KABUL: India will provide four Mi-24 gunship helicopters to Afghanistan, Afghan media reported Wednesday.

Afghanistan’s Tolo News citing a report published in Hindustan Times said “India will supply Afghanistan with four gunship helicopters ahead of the upcoming fighting season.”

Kabul reached out to New Delhi for assistance in acquiring helicopters urgently needed to help in counter-terrorism operations, according to the report.

India will underwrite the delivery of four Mi-24 gunship helicopters by Belarus to Afghanistan, it said.

Afghan Ambassador to India Shaida Abdali said that Afghanistan, India and Belarus signed a trilateral pact for the refurbished Mi-24 helicopters earlier this month.

“We recently were able to sign a trilateral MoU…India will be paying for the four Mi-24s. All the four helicopters (will be) paid (for) by India,” the envoy said.

Also, two years back, India had supplied four Mi-24s to Afghanistan, the report says.