<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>A helicopter used by the Afghan air force crashed as it attempted an emergency landing in central Afghanistan on Wednesday, killing one person and injuring 12, the defence ministry said.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Mi17 aircraft encountered “technical issues” as it attempted to recover the bodies of people who had fallen into a river in the central Ghor province, Afghanistan’s Taliban-run ministry of national defence said in a statement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The helicopter crashed as it attempted an emergency landing, the ministry added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The Taliban, an Islamist movement, took over Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US-led foreign forces in 2021 and inherited a number of aircraft from the forces of the Republican regime it toppled.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It is not clear how many aircraft and what types the Taliban have managed to repair, but Russian Mi17 utility helicopters have often been used in rescue operations - including the recent floods that killed hundreds in the northwestern part of the country, according to Reuters reports&nbsp;</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd/fas</div>