US Air Force Plane Goes Down In Afghanistan

A U.S. Air Force plane has gone down in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, a military spokesman said Monday.

"While the cause of crash is under investigation, there are no indications the crash was caused by enemy fire. We will provide additional information as it becomes available," tweeted U.S. Forces Afghanistan (USFOR-A) spokesman Col. Sonny Leggett about the U.S. Bombardier E-11A crash.

He gave no information about casualties from the crash.

The confirmation followed earlier claims by Khaliq Dad Akbari, a member of the Ghazni Council, that a passenger plane had gone down close to the Taliban-controlled Deh Yak district at around 1: 30 p.m. (0900GMT), but the country's Civil Aviation Authority denied the reports.

Taliban insurgents also claimed earlier to have brought down a CIA plane allegedly on a "spy mission."

Zabihullah Mujahed, the Taliban spokesman, claimed in a statement, "All staff and passengers, including key officers of the CIA, have been killed," posting on Twitter pictures and video of a plane with apparent U.S. markings.

If the Taliban's claims are true, this would be at least the third plane or helicopter allegedly shot down by the insurgents in Afghanistan this month.

Last month, Afghanistan's former spymaster, Rehmatullah Nabil, warned of dire consequences in Afghanistan if a peace deal is not reached before spring 2020.

In a series of tweets, he said given the recent developments in the region, if the U.S.-Taliban peace deal is not finalized by this spring/summer, it would be no surprise if the Taliban gets man-portable air-defense systems, which could be a game changer for them in the Afghan conflict.

In the late 1980s, it was the U.S. Stringer missiles supplied to the Afghan Mujahedeen that turned the tables on the pro-Soviet regime in Kabul after repeated calls for ca ease-fire were shrugged off by anti-government forces. -