U.N. Plane Allowed To Fly To Pakistan
A U.N. plane forced to land in western Afghanistan flew to Pakistan on Sunday without its seven passengers.
The plane, which the United Nations chartered in Iran to carry Tajik rebel leaders to peace talks, was intercepted by Taliban jet fighters on Saturday en route to northern Afghanistan.
The Taliban religious army, which controls roughly two-thirds of Afghanistan, said the aircraft entered Afghan air space without first getting clearance. The plane was forced to land at the Shindand military air base.
The Taliban agreed to release the plane Sunday, but it developed technical problems shortly after takeoff and the pilot sought permission to land in Kandahar, about 240 miles southeast of the air base, the U.N. official said on condition he not be further identified.
Later Sunday, the Taliban, whose headquarters is in Kandahar, let the crippled aircraft fly to the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. But the pilots couldn’t risk taking the passengers, the official said.
On board was Syed Abdullo Nuri, an opposition leader from Tajikistan who was flying from eastern Iran to meet Tajikistan President Emomali Rakhmanov to try to end the civil war in the former Soviet republic.
The U.N. official said the passengers - all Tajiks - will be brought to Islamabad on Monday by another U.N. plane.
“We are treating them very well, even though they entered Afghanistan illegally,” said Maulvi Abdul Salam, a Taliban spokesman in Kandahar.
The Tajiks are expected to continue on to Afghanistan’s northern Kunduz province, which is under the control of anti-Taliban forces led by the powerful warlord Rashid Dostum and ousted military chief Ahmed Shah Massood.
The U.N. official said there was a procedural error in identifying the plane. “It was all just a big misunderstanding,” he said.
But observers in Kabul have said the Taliban intercepted the aircraft because they suspected that ousted Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who is in Iran, may have been aboard.
The Taliban recently has accused Iran of supporting the anti-Taliban alliance. While Iran denies that, it has condemned the Taliban’s harsh version of Islamic law.