CNN: Taleban claims unmanned US spy plane shot down

September 21, 2001 11:18 PM

CNN: Taleban claims unmanned US spy plane shot down The UAE also withdrew diplomatic recognition for the Taleban.
posted by owillis (18 comments total)

Reuters confirms the report (not the content, but the report).
posted by owillis at 11:46 PM on September 21, 2001

AP moved a one-line "news alert" (not for publication) 45 minutes ago, but nothing since. And the TV version of CNN is ignorning it.
posted by diddlegnome at 11:53 PM on September 21, 2001

Actually, I first saw it on CNN TV from their reporter in Pakistan.
posted by owillis at 11:56 PM on September 21, 2001

Fair enough. "Ignoring" was the wrong word. I just meant they weren't discussing it at the moment. They're on it now. Still nothing new from AP.
posted by diddlegnome at 12:02 AM on September 22, 2001

CNN put up a lower-third banner with the Taliban's claims recently. (And as I write this, Tom Mintier is doing a liveshot on CNN International right now, which is being simulcast on CNN/U.S. and Headline News.) (Disclaimer: I work for CNN. Makes it easy to monitor what's going out over the air.)

So, the Taliban is down to what, nineteen surface-to-air missiles now?
posted by Vidiot at 12:05 AM on September 22, 2001

AP: "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. "

Pentagon responds: ""As the Secretary of Defense has said, we will not discuss any operational issues," he said. "We will not respond to each and every statement of the Taliban." "

They're also now saying they don't know which country it was from...
posted by owillis at 12:10 AM on September 22, 2001

Vidiot (is that a Ken Nordine reference?):

So, the Taliban is down to what, nineteen surface-to-air missiles now? I think this mode of thought could be the undoing of any American assault on Afghanistan. My gut tells me that the terrain in Afghanistan will be harder than any other the US has faced, and the enemy more fearless and motivated than any other since Vietnam. bin Laden didn't need missiles to take down the WTC; likewise I doubt the Taliban need missiles to defend their country.
posted by skylar at 12:52 AM on September 22, 2001

Bingo! LOVE Ken Nordine. Plus I work in TV news and am an unrepentant media-studies geek.

But yes, skylar -- I was just being flip. If the United States invades Afghanistan, they need to be prepared to face the same result that all the other invaders since Alexander the Great have faced.
posted by Vidiot at 12:59 AM on September 22, 2001

Vidiot: If you're at CNN now, maybe you can better answer than I could the CNNI complaint in this thread. Been a while since I've been at CNN, unfortunately, so I don't know how CNNI has been handling coverage the last week or so.
posted by aaron at 1:54 AM on September 22, 2001

It's no great feat to shoot down one of those drones. They don't fly fast, they tend to fly in a straight line, and they don't dodge well. They're not heavily defended with ECM or countermeasures. They don't carry HARMs or other means to fight back. The reason they get used is precisely that they're expendable. They're not decoys; they definitely are on a mission. But a manned wild weasel is far more difficult to bring down. So is a U2 because of how high it flies.

In the Gulf War, the US unveiled the F117 stealth bomber. There have been rumors for a long time that the reason that the US retired the SR-71 ten years ago was that they had something newer and better. We may see it now.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 5:47 AM on September 22, 2001

Story from Reuters. Note the UAE story below.
posted by bjgeiger at 5:48 AM on September 22, 2001

Following on what Steven Den Beste said. The drone in question was undoubtedly on a photo reconnaissance mission and they are relatively easy targets. One may be sure that the U.S. has other intelligence assets covering Afghanistan that are not going to be brought down.
posted by MAYORBOB at 5:54 AM on September 22, 2001

Please use direct links. I assume that you saw this on TV?
posted by fooljay at 7:04 AM on September 22, 2001

By the way, those drones don't have very long range. This means something else: the US now already has a substantial military presence on the border of Afghanistan. We wouldn't have a UAV group there unless it was defended against the possibility of a cross-border infantry incursion.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 7:45 AM on September 22, 2001

yes, the latest latey-late is indeed annoying. one has to search and this ..(shut-up) Sklar is bang on...soon they will been down to 7.62, and three days of 20mm. the stingers if any, will probably go into cartoon mode. (bet "they" didnt know that) and then we can get a shot of them going to battery store....there he is....and then we say....HEY, whyyougivintaliban20mm..ah hem. carry on gentlemen.
posted by newnameintown at 10:49 AM on September 22, 2001

Steven, many USN destroyers and frigates are equipped with Predator, the short range UAV. It may have come from one of the ships in the Enterprise carrier battle group, which is hovering just outside of the sight line off of the Pakistan coast.

I think before the conflict is over, USN/AF may try to field test the Global Hawk in actual combat situations.
posted by tamim at 11:09 AM on September 22, 2001

The shoot-down was reported to be in the Northwest part of the country, well beyond the range of anything that Enterprise group could reach with a UAV. In fact, I'm not sure a ship-board UAV is capable of reaching Afghanistan at all; there's a lot of Pakistan in the way, and as you mention, Predator is "short range".

Second, there is now confusion about the report; it may not have been American; it may not even have been a UAV. Let's keep in mind that the report came from our enemy and they could be lying or they could be stupid or they could be mistaken. There are a lot of misreports about combat victories.
posted by Steven Den Beste at 12:05 PM on September 22, 2001

Note the sketchy reports that Brit special forces are already operating on the ground in Afghanistan.

Maybe they use some sort of drone that got shot down...
posted by Mid at 8:44 AM on September 23, 2001