Western Diplomats Leave Afghanistan

12/04/2001| IslamWeb

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Islamweb & News Agencies) - Diplomats from the United States, Germany and Australia returned from Afghanistan on Tuesday after a failed weeklong effort to meet with eight aid workers jailed by the ruling Taliban for allegedly preaching Christianity.The three diplomats called for the swift release of their compatriots - who include two American women - and said they were encouraged that care packages were delivered to the foreigners, who work for a group called Shelter Now International. But they were unable to persuade the authorities to let them see the detainees. (Read photo caption below)
Meanwhile, the Taliban, have said they have expanded their investigation to include other humanitarian aid agencies working in war-ravaged Afghanistan. They said they believe other organizations are preaching Christianity in the predominantly Muslim country.
``They (Taliban officials) said it's more complex than originally thought,'' Alastar Adams, First Secretary and Consul officer of the Australia told reporters after returning to neighboring Pakistan.
The foreigners - the two Americans, four Germans and two Australians - have not been seen since they were arrested more than two weeks ago along with 16 Afghan employees of Shelter Now International, run by the German-based Christian group Vision for Asia.
The Taliban showed the diplomats evidence they said they collected from the organization's offices in Kabul, the capital, that included compact discs and Christian-related material translated into the local languages. The Taliban also said they have confessions from the foreign aid workers, but did not show them to the diplomats.
``It is not our role to take any side at all in this,'' said Adams. ``If they have a case that's for them to prove it.''
He said the diplomats ``were not able to find out how the progress of their investigation is going,'' but that the foreigners ``have not been charged as far as I am aware.''
Under Taliban law, a foreigner can be jailed and expelled for proselytizing. For an Afghan, facing similar charges, the penalty is death.
Escorted to the airport by turbaned Taliban officials for their flight out, the diplomats said care packages they brought for the foreigners were delivered.
``We received written confirmation that the comfort packages were received and we feel very good about that,'' said Adams. ``We have some satisfaction that they are aware that we have been here.''
``We got a list in the form of an inventory signed by all the aid workers,'' said David Donahue, the Consul-General of the U.S. Embassy in Pakistan - one of only three countries where the Taliban have a diplomatic presence.
The diplomats vowed to press their demand for access to the jailed aid workers. Donahue, who spoke Monday to the families of the two American women, said, ``They are anxious.''
The Taliban originally identified the Americans as Dana Curry and Nicole Barnardhollon, but a Shelter Now International spokesman in Pakistan, Esteban Witzemann, identified them as Dana Curry and Heather Mercer. Barnardhollon had left Afghanistan and was in Pakistan.
The other six foreigners have been identified by the Taliban as Germans George Taubmann, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf; and Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas.
Adams said the Taliban warned the diplomats before they arrived that they would not be given access to the foreigners, but that they had hoped that would change.
Weitzemann said Shelter Now was disappointed. ``Of course we are worried. We haven't heard anything but rumors. We have had no direct contact with the Taliban,'' he said in a telephone interview.
Several international organizations have said they would consider pulling out of Afghanistan if more arrests are made.
PHOTO CAPTION:
.S. Consul General David Donahue speaks to reporters at Islamabad Airport on August 21, 2001, after returning from a futile week-long effort to visit aid workers detained in Afghanistan on charges of promoting Christianity. The U.S., German and Australian diplomats had been refused an extension to their visas and told they could not see the detained aid workers until the Taliban investigation of their activities was concluded. (Aziz Haidari/Reuters