dig with and without +norec

I am somehow resending my earlier post. Can somebody give a hint why
recursive caching server behaves like this.

I have issued the dig directly from the server.

[dxbins1:/]#dig ns af.mil @192.168.8.91

; <<>> DiG 9.2.3 <<>> ns af.mil @192.168.8.91
;; global options: printcmd
;; connection timed out; no servers could be reached


[dxbins1:/]#dig ns af.mil @192.168.8.91 +norec

; <<>> DiG 9.2.3 <<>> ns af.mil @192.168.8.91 +norec
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 60916
;; flags: qr ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 0, AUTHORITY: 6, ADDITIONAL: 0

;; QUESTION SECTION:
;af.mil. IN NS

;; AUTHORITY SECTION:
af.mil. 58999 IN NS ARTEMIS.AFNOC.af.mil.
af.mil. 58999 IN NS NS.USAFE.af.mil.
af.mil. 58999 IN NS NS.MAXWELL.af.mil.
af.mil. 58999 IN NS MARS.AFNOC.af.mil.
af.mil. 58999 IN NS PAPA1.BARKSDALE.af.mil.
af.mil. 58999 IN NS DELTA1.BARKSDALE.af.mil.

;; Query time: 19 msec
;; SERVER: 192.168.8.91#53(192.168.8.91)
;; WHEN: Sat Feb 28 08:12:24 2004
;; MSG SIZE rcvd: 170