India Exited Ayni Air Base In Tajikistan; Bilateral Deal Concluded: MEA

India on Thursday (October 30, 2025) officially confirmed that its air force had exited the Ayni air base in Tajikistan, once seen as an asset providing strategic depth against Pakistan.

Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Radhir Jaiswal told his weekly press conference in New Delhi that India handed back the air base to Tajikistan after the conclusion of the agreement, which was in place for several years.

When did India vacate Ayni air base?

India had a bilateral agreement with Tajikistan for the “rehabilitation and development of the Ayni aerodrome,” and the agreement had concluded in 2022, he said, without elaborating.

A media report on October 27 had gone viral on social media, and it had said India recently shut down its operations in Ayni air base, close to the Tajikistan capital Dushanbe, which it had been operating for the last 25 years.

Why did India vacate the Ayni air base?

The report also stated that India had to vacate the air base due to geopolitical pressures from its neighbour, China, and Russia. While China was gaining in influence in Tajikistan in recent years, Russia was of the view that a non-regional power should not have a military presence in its area of influence.

Tajikistan is a Central Asian nation that was part of the erstwhile USSR, and shares a border with Afghanistan on its south. Ayni air base had provided India with a strategic depth with Pakistan, as India had operated a Sukhoi Su-30MKI detachment from that air base for some time.

When did India ever use the Ayni air base?

In 2021, India operated its military cargo aircraft from the Ayni air base to evacuate Indians and embassy officials out of Afghanistan as the Taliban took over following the abrupt American exit from that war-torn nation.

India transported Indians and its officials across the Afghan border into Tajikistan to fly them back to India. India also operated a military hospital facility at the Farkhor military base for years now.