Moldovan Chopper Crashes in Faryab Province

A Moldovan contract Mi-17 helicopter crashed-landed in a Taliban-held area of Faryab province. Two Afghan soldiers and a Moldovan flight engineer were killed in an initial firefight shortly after the crash. Another 13 ANA were taken hostage. Reports state there were two foreigners captured as well; believed to be Moldovan crew. The aircraft was privately owned by the Valan ICC company in Moldova and had been chartered to fly for the Afghan security forces. The Afghan National Army is attempting to rescue the captured personnel. Read more in "Afghan army launches operation to rescue hostages held by Taliban", The Guardian, November 25, 2015. The Afghan National Defense and Security Forces (ANDSF) do not have a personnel recovery capability so prospects for the recovery of personnel from downed aircraft in situations like this are dim. As the personnel are already captured recovery efforts become more complicated and will likely fall to the Special Operations Kandak (SOK) stationed in the north (with its complement of SOF advisors) or to one of the Afghan national mission police units based in Kabul. As of Saturday the Afghan security forces were still trying to determine the location of the captives (VOA News, Nov 28, 2015).

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