Bodies of two American Air Force members recovered from crashed plane in Afghanistan
28 January 2020, 20:59
The bodies of two American Air Force members have been recovered from a plane which crashed in Afghanistan.
US military command in Kabul said they also retrieved what they believe is the plane's flight data recorder.
The servicepeople were the only two aboard the Air Force E-11A electronic surveillance aircraft when it went down on Monday in Ghazni province.
Their identities have not been publicly announced, pending notification of their relatives.
A statement said the cause of the crash is under investigation, but there are no indications that it was downed by enemy fire.
Monday's plane crash is not expected to derail US-Taliban peace talks if the crash investigation determines, as expected, that it was not the result of hostile action.
The US and the Taliban are negotiating a reduction in hostilities or a ceasefire to allow the signing of a peace agreement that could bring home an estimated 13,000 American troops and open the way to a broader post-war deal for Afghans.
The crash site is about six miles from a US military base.
In its statement on Tuesday, the US military command in Kabul thanked local Afghans for treating the remains with respect.
It said that after removing the remains, US forces destroyed the remnants of the E-11A aircraft.
