A US military refuelling aircraft carrying seven personnel has crashed into a mountain in Pakistan. The aircraft was trying to land at a base used by American forces fighting in Afghanistan. The KC-130 crashed while making a landing approach.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's interim leader, Hamid Karzai, today committed his administration to respecting a free market economy and freedom of speech and the press.
Mr Karzai made the commitments in his first televised address to the nation since being sworn in to office. He said that social and economic progress in Afghanistan was dependent on a free market economy and private sector development.
In a further development, anti-Taliban forces in Afghanistan are reported to have captured two senior members of Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network. The chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, said that the men had laptop computers and mobile phones with them when they were found.
They were found in a complex of caves and underground bunkers near Khost, in the east of the country. General Myers said that the two could be senior enough to have information about future al-Qaeda operations.
General Myers said that valuable information had been obtained from previous captures. He also said that he expected the Afghan authorities to hand over three leading ministers of the ousted Taliban regime who have surrendered, according to local officials in Kandahar.
The men are said to be the former Ministers for Justice, Defence and Industry. General Myers told reporters the United States wanted to question the three because of their prominence in the former regime.
However, Khaled Pashtun, a spokesman for the Governor of Kandahar, said that there was no reason to detain the men at present and they were being kept under surveillance.
