Afghan military plane crashes in Uzbekistan, cause disputed

An Afghan military plane crashed in Uzbekistan over the weekend and Uzbek authorities issued conflicting reports on the cause

MOSCOW -- An Afghan military plane crashed in Uzbekistan over the weekend, and Uzbek authorities on Monday issued conflicting reports on the cause. The wreckage came as dozens of Afghan military aircraft carrying hundreds of servicemen reportedly reached Uzbekistan, among the thousands fleeing the country after the Taliban recaptured the Afghan capital of Kabul. The plane crash in southeastern Uzbekistan, in the Surkhandarya region on the border with Afghanistan, was first reported by local media. Uzbekistan’s Defense Ministry initially said it was studying videos and reports of the crash, then confirmed that the plane did crash, without elaborating. Later Monday, Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti reported that it was told by the Uzbek Defense Ministry that Uzbekistan’s air defense system had downed the plane and “averted an attempt by an Afghan military plane to illegally cross Uzbekistan’s air border.” Two pilots, the agency said, were hospitalized in serious condition. Within hours, the Prosecutor General's office in Uzbekistan issued a statement saying that an Afghan military plane had collided with an Uzbek plane that was scrambled to escort it to the airport at Termez, a city in Surkhandarya.