Taliban: Unmanned plane shot down

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — Taliban forces shot down an unmanned spy plane in northern Afghanistan on Saturday and were trying to determine what nation it belonged to, a Taliban official said.

A Pentagon official declined to comment on the reported downing, which came as U.S. forces were preparing for a possible military assault on Afghanistan, which harbors Osama bin Laden, the prime suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban's ambassador to Pakistan, said the aircraft was shot down over Tashgurgan Pass in Afghanistan's northern Samangan province by Taliban soldiers armed with Russian-made anti-aircraft weapons.

``We are still trying to ascertain what country this plane belongs to,'' Zaeef said in an interview.

The Afghan Islamic Press, an Afghan news agency based in Islamabad, first reported that it was a U.S. spy plane, then said it wasn't sure which country it was from.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Mike Milord said he would not discuss operational issues. ``We will not respond to each and every statement of the Taliban,'' he said.

The aircraft could have entered northern Afghanistan from Russia or one of the nearby Central Asian states, such as bordering Uzbekistan.

For years, the Taliban have given sanctuary to bin Laden, a Saudi exile, who is accused of masterminding terrorist attacks around the world, using camps to train some of the assailants.

After failing to persuade the Taliban to comply with a U.N. Security Council resolution to hand over bin Laden, the United Arab Emirates announced Saturday it would cut ties with the hard-line Islamic militia.

``The United Arab Emirates does not believe that it is possible to continue to maintain diplomatic relations with a government that refuses to respond to the clear will of the international community,'' an unidentified Foreign Ministry official told the news agency.

That left only two countries — Saudi Arabia and Pakistan — that continue to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. Other countries recognize the government-in-exile of President Burhanuddin Rabbani.

In another development, heavy fighting was reported Saturday between the Taliban militia and opposition forces in northern Afghanistan.

The Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency in Kabul said that their forces shot down an opposition helicopter in the same area where the foreign spy plane reportedly was destroyed. The helicopter was hit in the Dar-e-suf district during a battle being waged there.

In Tajikistan, an official in the Afghan opposition denied that one of its helicopters had been shot down.

``We have not had a flight to Dara-e-suf in Samangan in the past three days,'' said Muhamad Salekh Registani, the military attache of the Afghan Embassy in Moscow, who was visiting the embassy in Dushanbe. ``We have not lost a helicopter.''

Northern Alliance spokesman Mohammed Ashraf Nadim said two of its fighters were injured and at least 39 of Taliban's were killed in the battles.

But it was not possible to independently confirm the death toll.

The Taliban control 95 percent of Afghanistan and have been fighting an opposition force based mostly in the north for the last five years. Dar-e-suf has been the scene of the heaviest fighting between the Taliban and the opposition this year.

Both sides are equipped with antiquated Russian fighter jets and helicopter gunships, most of them leftovers from the 10-year Soviet occupation that ended in 1989 with the Soviets' withdrawal.

In recent years, the opposition has received new helicopters from Russia.