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Afghan plane crash: Mystery over crash in Taliban territory Afghan plane crash: US jet comes down in Taliban territory
(about 3 hours later)
The US military has joined an investigation into a plane that crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday. The US military has confirmed one of its planes crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday.
Local officials initially said the aircraft that came down in Deh Yak district, Ghazni province, belonged to state-owned airline Ariana. Officials told the media there were no indications it had been brought down by enemy activity.
But the airline denied this, prompting questions about the origin of the aircraft and the cause of the crash. The aircraft crashed in Deh Yak district, Ghazni province, an area with a strong Taliban presence.
Taliban social media accounts posted footage of what it said was the plane, with US Air Force markings. Afghan authorities initially said it belonged to state-owned airline Ariana, but the company issued a denial, saying all its planes were accounted for.
Video and images posted online appeared to show a Bombardier E-11A jet, a US Air Force plane. The Pentagon has not released further details and it is unclear how many people were on board.
The US military uses this type of plane for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan. Taliban social media accounts have posted unverified footage showing a burnt-out plane with US Air Force markings.
The village in which the plane came down, south-west of the capital Kabul, is in an area with a strong Taliban presence. The video shows a Bombardier E-11A - the type of jet used by the US Air Force for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan.
US Army Maj Beth Riordan, a spokeswoman for US Central Command, told Associated Press news agency that it remained unclear whose aircraft was involved in the crash. While helicopters have proven vulnerable and accident-prone in Afghanistan, the loss of a US fixed-wing aircraft is relatively rare.
Another US defence official told Military Times: "We are aware of the reports and are investigating. At this point, we cannot confirm it is a DOD [Department of Defence] asset." But the Taliban are not believed to have the sorts of anti-aircraft missiles needed to bring down a high-flying aircraft.
After initial speculation that it was an Ariana plane, the airline issued a strong denial, saying it only had two planes in the air and that they were safe. The plane involved is an E-11A, one of only four in the whole US Air Force.
Mirwais Mirzekwal, chief executive of Ariana, told Reuters: "It does not belong to Ariana because the two flights managed by Ariana today from Herat to Kabul and Herat to Delhi are safe." Essentially it is an adapted Bombardier executive jet, chosen for its ability to fly at high altitude and with extended range. It is packed with electronics: its job is to enable better communications between air and ground forces, and between different types of aircraft operating in difficult terrain or using incompatible data links.
Ghazni provincial governor Wahidullah Kaleemzai later told private broadcaster TOLOnews: "There is no exact information on casualties and name of the airline." It is a bit like the wi-fi range extender that you install in a room with a poor signal. The aircraft - along with similar electronics mounted on unmanned systems - have played an important role in the Afghan conflict, where the mountainous landscape is a major problem for modern military communications.
Afghanistan's aviation body also said that no civilian planes had crashed, and Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the BBC that his group had not yet located the aircraft.
Ghazni police commander Ahmed Khalid Wardak told the BBC that there was no information about casualties, and that it was unclear what had caused the plane to crash. He added that the aircraft had been set on fire.