Taliban: Aircraft shot down

The Taliban say that handing over bin Laden without proof is an "insult to Islam"

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- Taliban officials in Pakistan Saturday said a plane was shot down in Afghanistan, but there are conflicting details about what kind of aircraft it is and what nation it represents.

Counsel General Naji Bullah -- speaking from the Pakistani city of Peshawar -- said a U.S. unmanned spyplane was shot down over Afghanistan in Samangan, northwest of Kabul. He said he had received the information from an eyewitness.

Abdul Salam Zaeed, the Taliban ambassador to Pakistan, confirmed a shootdown to CNN, but said it is not clear what kind of aircraft it is nor where it is from. The ambassador said captured Soviet anti-aircraft guns were used to shoot the aircraft down.

The Afghan Islamic Press has reported that an unmanned plane was downed by Taliban soldiers Saturday in Afghanistan.

Reuters news agency, quoting a Taliban Information Ministry official in Kabul, said Taliban forces shot down a helicopter belonging to the opposition-Northern Alliance. It was not a pilotless plane, Reuters said. A Pentagon spokesman refused to comment. Lt. Col. Mike Milord referred CNN to the following statement: "As the secretary of defense has said, we will not discuss any operational issues."

The Defense Department official added: "We will not respond to each and every statement of the Taliban.

The Taliban closed down its airspace last week following the September 11 attacks in the U.S..

UAE cuts ties with Taliban

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Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates has cut diplomatic ties with Afghanistan, reducing support for the hard-line Taliban rulers.

This means that only two countries, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, retain diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Pakistan has since said it will not sever diplomatic relations.

The official Emirates News Agency on Saturday quoted an unidentified foreign ministry official as saying that the UAE has tried to convince the Taliban in recent days to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden.

The source "expressed regret" over the Taliban's stance and hoped that "the responsible authorities in Afghanistan will re-examine their position, and will respond positively to the requests of the international community."

The official said that the cuts to relations would take effect immediately.

Blunt warning

The growing isolation of the Taliban comes after the White House bluntly warned Afghanistan's rulers Friday that "We will defeat you" if they refuse to turn bin Laden over to U.S. authorities.

The United States has labeled bin Laden a prime suspect in the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington, which may have killed more than 6,000.

The Taliban have defied the U.S. demand, refusing to hand over bin Laden without proof or evidence that he was involved in last week's attacks on the United States.

The millionaire Saudi-born dissident has been living in Afghanistan since 1996 as a "guest" of the Taliban, the Islamic fundamentalist militia that controls most of the country.

Bin Laden himself has denied he had anything to do with the attacks, and Taliban officials repeatedly said he could not have been involved in the attacks.

U.S. build-up continues

In another development, a Pentagon delegation will leave the U.S. on Saturday for Islamabad to check out military facilities in Pakistan.

The Pentagon already has a second deployment order in the works that will add extra support aircraft to the package of warplanes already ordered to move to forward bases in the Persian Gulf and Central Asia.

The Pentagon is not disclosing how many planes are involved, where they are going, or when they are departing from bases in the United States.

But in Louisiana, all nine of the B-52 bombers called into action at Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport left the base Friday night.

Officials at the base would not say where they were going, only confirming that the base has received deployment orders.

If the U.S. does attack Afghanistan, the Taliban have said they are ready to defend the country.

"If they want to show their might, we are ready and we will never surrender before might and force," Abdul Salam Zaeef said.

"According to Islam, the blood of anyone who spies for the enemy or sympathizes with it in time of war must be shed."