Afghan President Hamid Karzai addresses a joint press conference with NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen in Kabul, Afghanistan on May 24, 2011. Rasmussen told journalists that the “transition is on track” for the hand over of seven of Afghanistan's 34 provinces in July. - AP Photo

KABUL: A French fighter jet crashed in western Afghanistan on Tuesday, although the crew escaped without injury and enemy fire was not to blame, a French army spokesman said.

“A Mirage 2000-D crashed 100 kilometres west of Farah,” French army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Eric de Lapresle told AFP.

He excluded enemy fire as the cause of the crash, the first of a French plane during the near 10-year conflict in Afghanistan.

“The crew are in good health and have been recovered,” the spokesman added.

The Nato-led International Security Assistance Force, under which French forces operate in Afghanistan, also confirmed the incident.

“An ISAF aircraft crashed in western Afghanistan this morning,” it said in a statement. “The crew members are uninjured and have been recovered and the crash site has been secured.” The statement added that the cause of the crash of the French-built jet was currently unknown and an investigation into what happened had been launched.

France has six fighter jets based in Afghanistan at Kandahar Airfield in the south.

There are around 4,000 French troops stationed in Afghanistan as part of the 130,000-strong international force fighting the Taliban and other insurgents.

Opinion

Editorial

Anti-women state
25 Nov, 2024

Anti-women state

GLOBALLY, women are tormented by the worst tools of exploitation: rape, sexual abuse, GBV, IPV, and more are among...
IT sector concerns
25 Nov, 2024

IT sector concerns

PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s ambitious plan to increase Pakistan’s IT exports from $3.2bn to $25bn in the ...
Israel’s war crimes
25 Nov, 2024

Israel’s war crimes

WHILE some powerful states are shielding Israel from censure, the court of global opinion is quite clear: there is...
Short-changed?
Updated 24 Nov, 2024

Short-changed?

As nations continue to argue, the international community must recognise that climate finance is not merely about numbers.
Overblown ‘threat’
24 Nov, 2024

Overblown ‘threat’

ON the eve of the PTI’s ‘do or die’ protest in the federal capital, there seemed to be little evidence of the...
Exclusive politics
24 Nov, 2024

Exclusive politics

THERE has been a gradual erasure of the voices of most marginalised groups from Pakistan’s mainstream political...