The Afghan airspace and the existing challenges
Several days ago, violating the Afghan airspace, Russian airplanes entered Badakhshan province in Northern Afghanistan. Moreover, some media outlets have released reports which suggested that in some of the Northern provinces, unknown helicopters had landed and distributed arms to unknown armed groups. Despite billions of dollars of international community’s aid, Afghanistan is still encountering serious challenges in areas of controlling its airspace.
While bloody explosions could be carried out within the Afghan green zone, controlling the airspace is a major challenge for the Afghan government. In the most recent blast in the diplomatic area of Kabul city last week more than 80 civilians were killed, and around 350 others were injured.
Whose responsibility is to control the Afghan airspace? How is the Afghan airspace being controlled? Is our airspace safe? In this regard, what are the main challenges? These issues are discussed here.
Airspace control in Afghanistan
The Afghan airspace management is carried out into two parts; first, the Afghan civil aviation and second, the Afghan military aviation- the three-decades-long war in the country has exhausted both.
After 2001, as same as other sectors, the US and NATO forces took control of the Afghan airspace as well and then by signing a contract, they handed over the Afghan air traffic control to an international company[1]. Besides that, the military aviation management was also in their hands.
The Afghan parliament passed the “Afghan national aviation law” on 18 September 2012 which was approved by the former Afghan President Hamid Karzai on 29 October 2012. Based on this law, the Afghan Civil Aviation Authority (ACAA) was established. The safety of the Afghan airspaces is officially the responsibility of the Afghan Ministry of Defense.
According to ACAA, besides the prevention of the violation of its airspace, 400 planes cross the Afghan airspace on a daily basis, and Afghanistan adds $500 for each flight to its Avenue which becomes a total of $50m every year which indicated the importance of airspace control. [2]
The Afghan Civil and Military Aviation
ACAA was established at a time that based on the policies of the US and the Afghan government, after 2009, the responsibility of the affairs must have been gradually handed over to Afghans. Based on this policy, the Afghan Aviation control must have also been transited to Afghans by the end of 2014. However, according to the reports of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan’s Reconstruction (SIGAR) and the Independent Joint Anti-Corruption Monitoring and Evaluation Committee (IJACMEC), between 2002 and 2014, the US foundations have spent approximately a total of $562.2m in activities relevant to Afghan civil aviation[3]; yet the US has failed to train the Afghan civil aviation staff particularly the air traffic controllers, as promised, by the end of 2014[4]. Even more interesting is the ACAA’s acceptance of SIGAR’s report in this regard[5].
On the other hand, the control of the Afghan Military Aviation is at the hand of the Americans as an Afghan Parliament Member said last week that the Afghan airspace control is at the hands of the Americans[6]. In the meanwhile, the Afghan deputy Chief of Army Staff in airspace affairs had said last year that, in this regard, no practical measures were undertaken. The Afghan government only controls the landing and flying of the planes[7].
Is our airspace safe?
Although, in 1392 [solar year], the Afghan government had said that it would take over the full control of the Afghan airspace within two years[8], however the Afghan government is yet to succeed in this. The Afghan National Unity Government (NUG) also discussed controlling airspace in the National Security Council and, in this regard, the formation of a Commission was also requested[9].
According to the Afghan Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation, in 1394 [Solar Year] 70 experts were needed to control the Afghan airspace while Afghanistan had only 7[10], and the Afghan government does not have such cadres and technical capacity to monitor its airspace without the assistance of a foreign company. According to the Afghan Minister, in order to take full control of the Afghan airspace, without the help of an international company, Afghanistan needs three to five years’ time.
Although in 1394, the control of the Afghan airspace was officially submitted to ACAA, but they were not able to take control without the assistance of the foreigners[11]. Therefore, since the past several years, Afghanistan has encountered many challenged in areas of managing its air traffic. These challenges are; technical issues, lack of equipment, lack of coordination with other organs and corruption[12].
Aside from human resources, some technical challenges and lack of tools have resulted in the failure in securing the safety of the Afghan airspace. From a military point of view, the fundamental step to ensure the safety of the Afghan airspace is identifying different unknown aircraft and then preventing their transportation. In order to do that, the country needs advanced radar systems. Therefore, the authorities in ACAA traveled to Germany last month to discuss the activation of the radar system in the country.
The former chief of Afghan Air Forces General Abdul Wahab Wardak believes that after 16 years, Afghanistan still does not have air defense system (However, he says that, in this regard, a policy was made, but it is yet to be implemented) [13]. The Afghan Deputy Chief of Army Staff General Murad Ali Murad also recognizes the problem and says that they are facing challenges in controlling the Afghan airspace and, in this regard, most of their information comes from Resolute Support Mission (NATO) [14].
The second step toward controlling the airspace is detecting the unknown aircraft, which mostly relies on the air forces and “ground-to-air” missiles- Afghanistan is far behind in both. For the same reason, the Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called on the new US President Donald Trump to strengthen the Afghan air force.
Afghanistan has signed Bilateral Security Agreement with the US and while the US has the most robust system of controlling airspace in the world and provides the Afghan government with information in this regard. The question is why, in this respect, the Afghan government is far behind? Why in this regard, has the US not cooperated with the Afghan government? Does the US do not want the Afghan government to take control of its airspace?
Since the past several years, reports have repeatedly been released about anonymous aircraft supplying weapons to the armed oppositions of the Afghan government. Unless the Afghans take control of their airspace, the war in Afghanistan will endure.
The end
[1] Read the joint report of fight against corruption and monitoring and evaluation committee in the following link:
http://www.mec.af/files/2016_06_14_ACAA_Paper_(Pashto).pdf
[2] read more in this report by Radio Azadi:
https://pa.azadiradio.com/a/27263891.html
[3] Read the SIGAR and IJACMEC’s report here:
https://www.sigar.mil/pdf/audits/SIGAR-15-58-AR.pdf
http://www.mec.af/files/2016_06_14_ACAA_Paper_(Pashto).pdf
[4] Read Radio Azadi’s this report in Pashto for further information:
https://pa.azadiradio.com/a/27019515.html
[5] آزادي رادیو، «اداره مستقل هوانوردی افغانستان گزارش سیگار را تایید کرد»، ۱۳۹۴ ثور ۲۶مه:
https://da.azadiradio.com/a/27020275.html
[6] ويسا ورځپاڼه، «افغان حکومت دې مخالفينو ته د الوتکو ښکته کېدو په اړه وضاحت ورکړي»، ۱۳۹۶ جوزا ۹مه:
http://www.dailyweesa.com/?p=14305
[7] آریانا نیوز، «کنترول حریم فضایی افغانستان در دست حکومت نیست»، ۲۰۱۵ دسامبر ۶مه:
[8] افغانستان ورځپاڼه، «نجفی: کنترول کامل حریم هوایی افغانستان را تا کمتر از دو سال در اختیار میگیریم »، ۱۳۹۲ اسد ۲۶مه:
http://www.dailyafghanistan.com/national_detail.php?post_id=128421
[9] تلويزيون چکاد، «غنی: باید حریم هوایی ما کنترول شود»، ۱۳۹۵ میزان ۷مه:
[10] هشت صبح ورځپاڼه، «ناتوانی افغانستان در کنترول حریم فضایی»، ۱۳۹۴ جوزا ۲۳مه:
http://8am.af/1394/03/23/inability-to-control-the-airspace-of-afghanistan/
[11] آزادي رادیو، «د هوايي حریم د کنټرول چارې د ملکي هوايي چلند ادارې ته وسپارل شوې»، ۱۳۹۴ د تلې لومړۍ نېته:
https://pa.azadiradio.com/a/27263891.html
[12] د ملکي هوايي چلند ادارې وېبپاڼه، «سفر یک هیات عالیرتبه ادارۀ مستقل هوانوردی ملکی به جرمنی به منظور بحث روی فعال کردن سیستم رادار در کشور»، ۲۰۱۷ د مې دریمه:
http://acaa.gov.af/fa/news/415003
[13] رادیو آزادی، «مراد: افغانستان در خصوص کنترول حریم هوایی با مشکلات مواجه است»، ۱۳۹۶ ثور ۲۳مه:
https://da.azadiradio.com/a/28486209.html
[14] تېر ماخذ.