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CIA sent drone to save rebel leader
©Associated Press, WASHINGTON -- The CIA sent a missile-armed drone to protect Afghan opposition leader Abdul Haq in his flight from the Taliban, hitting a vehicle convoy but failing to prevent Haq's capture and execution. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Sunday on ABC's This Week that Haq called for help and then received air support. "The assistance unfortunately was from the air, and he was on the ground. And regrettably, he was killed," Rumsfeld said. Asked if it was military air support, he said, "It was from another element of the government." He did not go into detail, but a government source, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said a CIA Predator flew the mission. The CIA is flying the Predator unmanned aerial vehicles over Afghanistan in the search for Osama bin Laden and Taliban leaders. The Predator, developed by the Air Force for reconnaissance, was recently armed and adopted by the CIA as a remote-controlled hunter. Friday, Taliban forces spotted Haq and a group of companions on a mountain road near Jalalabad. They ambushed his group, which scattered. Haq used a satellite phone to call supporters in the United States, who contacted U.S. Central Command, the military authority running campaign. The Predator reached the area a few hours later and struck a Taliban convoy. But Haq and some others were captured and hanged, according to Haq's nephew in Pakistan. Haq's group had entered Pakistan to encourage an anti-Taliban uprising among fellow ethnic Pashtuns. U.S. officials said his mission was not sanctioned by Americans but they saluted his cause. In Peshawar, Pakistan, Haq's comrades gathered at his family's home Sunday to pay their respects, and said their commander was abandoned by the United States. "We all hate America, all of us," said Dad Mohammed, an Afghan war veteran. "They always want to use us and our people, and then they abandon us." The Taliban said it buried Haq in his home village of Surkhrud.
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From the Times wire desk
From the AP |
