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US Says Contact Lost With Aircraft
The United States has lost contact with an unmanned aircraft over Afghanistan but Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Sunday he had ``no reason to believe'' the plane was brought down by Taliban fighters.
``The United States has, in fact, lost a ... lost contact, I should say, with an unmanned aerial vehicle,'' Rumsfeld told reporters after appearing on a Sunday talk show.
``That happens from time to time in terms of the controls. We have no reason to believe it was shot down.''
He gave the first confirmation of the loss of such an aircraft, used for years over Iraq and the Balkans for intelligence-gathering.
Afghanistan's ruling Taliban claimed Saturday that its fighters shot down an unmanned reconnaissance plane in northern Afghanistan and were trying to determine what country launched it.
The Taliban's official Bakhtar news agency said the aircraft was shot down over the Tashgurgan Pass in Samangan province, which borders Uzbekistan. At the time, Pentagon and CIA officials declined to comment on the report.
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