RFE/RL’s Radio Free Afghanistan
January 27, 2020
A plane crashed in eastern Afghanistan on January 27 but details about the incident remain unclear.
A Taliban spokesman says that the plane was a U.S. military aircraft.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said a U.S. Air Force plane crashed in the Ghazni Province, which sits in the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountains. Mujahid claimed the crash killed “lots” of members of the U.S. military. The militant group often exaggerates casualty figures.
U.S. Army Major Beth Riordan, a spokeswoman for U.S. Central Command, declined to comment when told about the Taliban claim. She earlier acknowledged U.S. military officials were investigating reports of a crash in Afghanistan. She said that it remained unclear whose aircraft was involved in the crash.
The Aviation Safety Network, a website of the Flight Safety Foundation that that keeps track of aviation accidents, incidents, and hijackings, tweeted that video posted online has confirmed that the plane that crashed was a U.S. military plane.
“A video confirms that a USAF Northrop Grumman E-11A crashed in Afghanistan,” it said. “This is a Bombardier Global Express outfitted as Battlefield Airborne Communications Node.”
The Bombardier E-11A aircraft is used by the U.S. military for electronic surveillance over Afghanistan. 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.
The Battlefield Airborne Communications Node, also referred to by the U.S. military as “Wi-Fi in the sky,” can be carried both on manned planes such as the E-11A or by unmanned aircraft.
Local Afghan officials had told RFE/RL earlier on January 27 that a passenger place from Afghanistan’s Ariana Airlines had crashed in the Taliban-held area of Ghazni Province. Provincial Governor Wahidullah Kalimzai told RFE/RL that the aircraft belonged to Ariana Airlines and was carrying about 83 people.
However, the state-owned airline denied in a Facebook post that one of its planes had crashed.
The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled. The number of people on board and their fate was not immediately known, nor was the cause of the crash.
With reporting by Reuters, AP, and AFP