U.S. military aircraft crashes in eastern Afghanistan
Information on casualties was not clear
A U.S. military aircraft crashed in eastern Afghanistan on Monday, an American official said, adding that there were no indications so far it'd been brought down by enemy fire.
The spokesperson for U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Col. Sonny Leggett, said that the military plane, a Bombardier E-11A, crashed in the Ghazni province, and an investigation into the causes has begun.
The Bombardier E-11A is a U.S. Air Force electronic surveillance plane. Video from the crash site circulating on social media appeared to show its charred ruins.
U.S. Secretary of Defence Mark Esper declined to comment further on the crash during a news conference alongside France's defence minister in Washington.
"I'm aware of the situation," said Esper. "I have nothing further to report at this time. As the matter develops and we develop it, we will update the media."
A Taliban spokesperson and Afghan journalist affiliated with the militant group had earlier said the mysterious crash was a U.S. military aircraft.
Tariq Ghazniwal, a journalist in the area, said he saw the burning aircraft. In an exchange on Twitter, he told The Associated Press he saw two bodies and the front of the aircraft was badly burned. He added the aircraft's body and tail were hardly damaged. His information could not be independently verified.
Ghazniwal said the crash site was about 10 kilometres from a U.S. military base.
Taliban-controlled region
However, pictures on social media purportedly from the crash site showed what could be the remains of a Bombardier E-11A aircraft, which the U.S. military uses for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan.
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 U.S. and Taliban are negotiating a reduction in hostilities or a ceasefire 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 around half the country.
Arif Noori, spokesperson for the provincial governor, said the plane went down around 1:10 p.m. local time in Deh Yak district, some 130 kilometres 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.
The mountainous Ghazni province sits in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains and is bitterly cold in winter. The Taliban currently control or hold sway over around half the country.
The war, however, has seen a number of deadly crashes of military aircraft. One of the most spectacular occurred in 2013 when an American Boeing 747 cargo jet crashed shortly after takeoff from Bagram airbase north of Kabul en route to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. All seven crew members were killed.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that large military vehicles were inadequately secured and had shifted during flight, causing damage to the control systems that "rendered the airplane uncontrollable."
