CIA sent drone to save Afghan guerrilla hunted by Taliban

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The CIA sent a missile-armed drone to protect Afghan opposition leader Abdul Haq in his flight from the Taliban, hitting a vehicle convoy but failing to prevent Haq's capture and execution.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday on ABC's "This Week" that Haq called for help and then received air support.

"The assistance unfortunately was from the air, and he was on the ground. And regrettably, he was killed," Rumsfeld said.

Asked if it was military air support, he said, "It was from another element of the government." He did not go into detail, but a government source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a CIA Predator flew the mission.

The CIA is flying the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles over Afghanistan in the search for Osama bin Laden and leaders of the ruling Taliban militia. The Predator, developed by the Air Force for reconnaissance, was recently armed and adopted by the CIA as a remote-controlled hunter. It can carry two Hellfire anti-tank missiles.

On Friday, Taliban forces spotted Haq and a group of companions traveling on a mountain road near Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan. They ambushed his group, which scattered. Haq called supporters in the United States on a satellite phone, who in turn contacted U.S. Central Command, the military authority running the fight in Afghanistan.

The Predator reached the area a few hours later and struck a Taliban convoy.

But Haq and some others from his group were captured and hanged as spies, according to Haq's nephew in Pakistan. Haq's group had entered Pakistan to encourage an anti-Taliban uprising among fellow ethnic Pashtuns. U.S. officials said his mission was not sanctioned by Americans but they saluted his cause.

In Peshawar, Pakistan, comrades of the slain guerrilla gathered at his family's home on Sunday to pay their respects, and claimed their commander was abandoned by the United States.

"We all hate America, all of us," said Dad Mohammed, a one-legged Afghan war veteran, wiping tears off his face. "They always want to use us and our people, and then they abandon us."

Haq, dead at 43, lost a foot to a mine while fighting against the Soviets in the 1980s. He was a supporter of the deposed king, Mohammad Zaher Shah, rather than the opposition northern alliance.

The Taliban said it buried Haq in his home village of Surkhrud.

APNP-10-28-01 1513CST