Three Afghan Air Force Pilots Killed in Accident

My name is Russ Pritchard, and I am the CEO of the U.S. based non-profit organization, The Afghan American Development Group. We support approximately 600 former personnel of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing who came to the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome in 2021-2022 after the collapse of Afghanistan. The Afghan American Development Group supports with resettlement assistance, job training, and family reunification. The former Afghan pilots, maintainers, and other personnel were our allies in America's twenty-year war on terror.

On Saturday, December 16, 2023, three of the former Afghan Air Force pilots, now residing in the United States, were killed in a single engine plane crash in Independence, Oregon. Major Mohammad Bashir Safdari, Major Sayed Hussain Musawi, and Lieutenant Ali Jan Ferdawsi were C-208 pilots of the Afghan Air Force and received their pilot's wings under a U.S. Air Force training program in conjunction with Raytheon Technologies. All three Afghan officers worked with their American military advisors until the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban on August 15, 2021.

As the Taliban closed in on the capital city of Kabul, Afghanistan that fateful day in August 2021, the remaining elements of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing flew their aircraft, under fire, out of Afghanistan to the neighboring countries of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. This heroic action prevented the aircraft from falling into the hands of the Taliban, but also meant leaving their families and loved ones behind in Afghanistan. Major Safdari, Major Musawi, and Lieutenant Ferdawsi flew to Tajikistan where they were placed in a detention camp for more than two months, then sent to another camp to the United Arab Emirates, and eventually brought to the United States as part of Operation Allies Welcome where they were placed in refugee camps on U.S. military bases. Resettled around the United States, these men and women of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing were granted Humanitarian Parole because a return to Afghanistan would have resulted in their execution by the Taliban.

Major Safdari and Major Musawi graduated from the National Military Academy of Afghanistan, and Lieutenant Ferdawsi graduated from the Afghan Air Force Academy. All three officers were married with children. These families remained behind, and in hiding, in Afghanistan. The officers sent money home each month to support their families and were their sole sources of financial support in a country where the U.N. estimates 94% of families face food shortages.

All three officers applied for, and received, asylum and were in process of becoming legal permanent residents in the United States. They were awaiting the arrival of their wives and children whom they had not seen since August 2021. Family reunification for these three heroes and the rest of the Afghan Air Force and Special Mission Wing has been pending for more than two years.

The purpose of this GO FUND ME is to raise funds to cover funeral costs and the balance to equally benefit the three surviving widows and their children. All three men, loyal and devoted allies of the United States, dreamed of their families being raised and educated in America.

Update for transparency. Proceeds raised from this fundraiser will be received by The Afghan American Development Group from the Go Fund Me account and then distributed in full (100%) to Salem for Refugees which has been managing the final arrangements and family needs.