A white transport helicopter crashed in southern Afghanistan Tuesday, killing at least six on board, said NATO spokesman.

A similar weapon was used against another aircraft that had landed in Kajaki.”While Iranian officials have acknowledged their diplomatic channels with the Taliban, they have repeatedly rejected accusations in recent years of providing material support to the group. That makes their potential emergence in Afghanistan especially troubling for the Afghan military, which fights its battles mostly from checkpoints.Shooting at helicopters that are on or near the ground, such as the two incidents in Helmand Province this year, is a tactic that has been used often by insurgent groups during the conflict in Syria.Afghanistan’s defense ministry said in a statement soon after the attack this week that the Black Hawk had crashed “due to technical issues while it was attempting to land.” In the days since, security officials admitted privately that the aircraft was attacked.One senior Afghan security official said it was near certain that the helicopter had been hit by an anti-tank missile, but an investigating team was sent to the Kajaki district on Tuesday to explore further.

They say they support the Afghan government in resisting the Taliban’s quest for a return of their Islamic Emirate, which was hostile to neighboring Iran.“What is important is that we believe in preserving the current constitution and the political system, we support the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the government,” Abbas Araghchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister, said in a recent interview with the Afghan channel ToloNews. At least two of the crew members aboard were wounded, one critically.It was the second attack of its kind this year.

“The Taliban have got new weapons that they can use against helicopters when it’s on the ground — a kind of rocket attached to long wire used against tanks and helicopters. The attacks raise new concerns for the Afghan military. And in 2008, the Taliban captured at least one missile and its launcher In 2017, Osprey Flight Solutions, a private company that assesses threats to commercial aviation in conflict zones, “Existing evidence suggests that acquisition and use of portable anti-tank missiles by armed groups in Afghanistan is limited, especially in comparison to places like Syria,” Matthew Schroeder, a senior researcher for the Small Arms Survey, which tracks the prevalence of anti-tank guided missiles and other weapons in war zones, said on Thursday.Anti-tank guided missiles require training and multiple people to effectively fire them; for the most part, they are unwieldy. And since the beginning of the year, despite a Speaking at an event in Kabul on Tuesday, Mr. Ghani said 3,560 Afghan forces had been killed and nearly 6,800 others wounded since the deal between the United States and the Taliban.

Why it’s dangerous to drink coffee during a heatwave; Idris Elba doesn’t think blackface should be censored in old shows; Traffic jam towards Mars: 3 missions must leave next month or wait till 2022; Libya’s parliament asks the Egyptian … In January, another Afghan helicopter was hit by an anti-tank guided missile in the same area near the Kajaki Dam, a swath of territory long contested by the Taliban, the officials said. The aircraft, along with a second helicopter, was on its way to the nearby Herat province. Tuesday, July 14 2020 Breaking News. Another Afghan helicopter was hit in January by an anti-tank guided missile in southern Afghanistan, in a swath of territory long contested by the Taliban. The helicopter collapsed in the Anar Dara district. January 08, 2020 Two Afghan Pilots Killed In Military Helicopter Crash Two Afghan Air Force pilots have been killed after their helicopter crashed in the western province of Farah, the Defense Ministry says. “I am asking everyone to please take a moment of silence for the United States Navy Seal Team and their families,” the post says.. “Their helicopter … The casualties are possibly higher, some Afghan officials suggested, with many doubting that the number included the losses of pro-government militias who bear the brunt of the fighting. A second senior official said he was unaware of this kind of weapon being deployed against aircraft in Afghanistan beyond the two incidents in Helmand Province this year.“Based on what I heard from locals, the helicopter was shot by the Taliban,” said Attaullah Afghan, the head of the provincial council in Helmand.