U.S. plane crashes in Afghanistan
Military says no sign it was shot down; no word on fatalities
The wreckage of a U.S. military aircraft is shown Monday after it crashed in Afghanistan’s Ghazni province. The area is controlled by the Taliban, but the U.S. said it hadn’t seen any early indications that the aircraft was downed by enemy fire. More photos at arkansasonline.com/128aircraft/. Video at arkansasonline.com/128plane/.
KABUL, Afghanistan — An American military aircraft crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, the U.S. military said, adding that there were no indications so far that it had been brought down by enemy fire.
The spokesman for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Col. Sonny Leggett, said the Bombardier E-11A crashed in Ghazni province and an investigation was ongoing.
The crash is not expected to derail U.S.-Taliban peace talks if it is found to have been an accident.
The Bombardier is a U.S. Air Force electronic surveillance plane. Video from the crash site circulating on social media appeared to show its charred ruins.
A Taliban spokesman and Afghan journalist affiliated with the militant group had earlier said the mystery crash was a U.S. military plane.
Tariq Ghazniwal, a journalist in the area, said he saw the burning aircraft. In an exchange on Twitter, he told The Associated Press that he saw two bodies and the front of the aircraft was badly burned. He added that the aircraft’s body and tail were hardly damaged. His information could not be independently verified.
Ghazniwal said the crash site was about 6.2 miles from a U.S. military base. Local Taliban have been deployed to protect the crash site, he said, and several other militants were combing the nearby village for two people they suspect may have survived the crash.
The Taliban hold much of Ghazni province and have total control over the area around the crash site.
Ghazniwal said the site was near a village called Sado Khelo, in the Deh Yak district. He also said residents in the area did not report a noise, and that “the crash was not loud.”
Images on social media purportedly of the crashed plane showed an aircraft bearing U.S. Air Force markings similar to other E-11A surveillance aircraft photographed by aviation enthusiasts. Visible registration numbers on the plane also appeared to match those aircraft.
The so-called Battlefield Airborne Communications Node can be carried on unmanned or crewed aircraft like the E-11A. It is used by the military to extend the range of radio signals and can be used to convert the output of one device to another, such as connecting a radio to a telephone.
Colloquially referred to by the U.S. military as “WiFi in the sky,” the Battlefield Airborne Communications Node system is used in areas where communications are otherwise difficult, elevating signals above obstacles like mountains. The system is in regular use in Afghanistan.
The U.S. and the Taliban are negotiating a reduction in hostilities or a cease-fire to allow a peace agreement to be signed that could bring home an estimated 13,000 American troops and open the way to a broader post-war deal for Afghans. The Taliban currently control or hold sway over about half the country.
Local Afghan officials had said earlier Monday that a passenger plane from Afghanistan’s Ariana Airlines had crashed in the Taliban-held area of eastern Ghazni province. However, Ariana told The Associated Press that none of its planes had crashed in Afghanistan.
The acting director for the state-owned airline, Mirwais Mirzakwal, dismissed reports that one of the company’s aircraft had crashed. Ariana also released a statement on its website saying all its aircraft were operational and safe.
The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
Arif Noori, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the plane went down about 1:10 p.m. Afghan time, or 2:40 a.m. CST some 80 miles southwest of the capital, Kabul. He said the crash site is in territory controlled by the Taliban. Two provincial council members also confirmed the crash.