Afghan military plane crashes in Uzbekistan

An Afghan military plane crashed in Uzbekistan over the weekend, and Uzbek authorities on Monday issued conflicting reports on the cause. It happened as dozens of Afghan military aircraft carrying hundreds of servicemen reportedly reached Uzbekistan, among thousands fleeing Afghanistan after the Taliban recaptured the capital Kabul.

The plane crash in southeastern Uzbekistan, in the Surkhandarya region on the border with Afghanistan, was first reported by local media. Uzbekistan's Defense Ministry initially said it was studying videos and reports of the crash, then confirmed that the plane did crash, without elaborating.

Later Monday, Russia's state news agency RIA Novosti reported that it was told by the Uzbek Defense Ministry that Uzbekistan's air defense system had downed the plane and "averted an attempt by an Afghan military plane to illegally cross Uzbekistan's air border."

Two pilots, the agency said, were hospitalized in serious condition. Bekbulat Okboyev, a senior doctor at a hospital in the city of Termez said both had spinal cord compression.

Within hours, the Prosecutor General's office in Uzbekistan issued a statement saying that an Afghan military plane had collided with an Uzbek plane that was scrambled to escort it to the airport at Termez.

The office later retracted that statement, which also alleged that 22 warplanes and 24 military helicopters from Afghanistan carrying 585 servicemen "illegally crossed" into Uzbek airspace over the weekend and were forced by Uzbek authorities to land at Termez.

The Prosecutor General's office later apologized for a "hasty" statement on the messaging app Telegram and said it was not based "verified data from the relevant authorities."

The Associated Press couldn't immediately reconcile all the conflicting reports or independently verify them.

Reports of the plane crash in Uzbekistan appeared Monday as thousands of Afghans packed into Kabul's airport, rushing the tarmac and pushing onto planes in desperate attempts to flee the country.

Also Monday, Kremlin envoy on Afghanistan Zamir Kabulov criticized the overthrown government. "We worry only about simple Afghans who were abandoned by bankrupt puppet politicians," he said.

Russia's ambassador to Afghanistan said that there was "serious terrorism" under President Ashraf Ghani, adding there had been "three to five explosions daily."

Moscow's criticism of Ghani, whose government had the support of Washington, comes at a time of heightened tensions between Russia and the United States.

Moscow fought a 10-year war in Afghanistan that ended with Soviet troops’ withdrawal in 1989 and has made a diplomatic comeback as a mediator, reaching out to feuding Afghan factions as it has jockeyed with the U.S. for influence in the country.

It has hosted several rounds of talks on Afghanistan, most recently in March, that involved the Taliban - even though Russia has labeled them a terrorist organization.