Which makes you wonder about the four killed, doesn't it?

October 10 11:57 AM ET

U.N. Says Afghan Taliban Beat Demining Staff

By Tahir Ikram

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Wednesday that officers of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban had assaulted several local staff working on demining operations there, adding to growing security concerns since the start of U.S.-led raids Sunday.

``We have received reports that the United Nations Mine Action Program and the NGOs working with them are increasingly being targeted in Afghanistan,'' U.N. spokeswoman Stephanie Bunker told a news conference.

``Demining staff in Kabul, Jalalabad and Kandahar were beaten by the Taliban,'' Bunker added. She said she had only just received the reports and had no further details.

Ironically, among the first casualties of the air raids were four Afghans working for a U.N.-funded demining office in Kabul. The United States said it was possible one of its missiles went astray and struck the building where they were staying.

Bunker said the Taliban Monday broke into the premises of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif and took away communications equipment.

``Our task is becoming more difficult day by day for various reasons since 11 September. What we see is shrinking operational environment for all U.N. agencies,'' another U.N. spokesman, Eric Falt, told reporters.

PAKISTAN INCIDENTS

``In Pakistan our concern has been and remains related to security over the past few days,'' he added.

Angry protesters burned part of the building of the United Nations Children Fund Monday in the southwestern city of Quetta and broke windows of the nearby U.N. refugee agency.

Yusuf Hassan, spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said that, for the past three days, international staff had been stopped on security grounds from entering the tribal belt on the rim of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan where they were preparing sites for a possible refugee influx.

``The security situation in Pakistan, particularly in the border areas, continues to pose a serious obstacle to the humanitarian effort under way in the region,'' the UNHCR said in a statement from Geneva where it is based.

Pakistan witnessed a spate of violent protests in several cities Monday and a few more Tuesday but no major pro-Taliban rallies were reported Wednesday.

``We will not be deterred from the work we have to do but the recent events in Quetta and the tension in Peshawar do not contribute to helping us prepare as actively as we would wish for the possible arrival of refugees,'' Falt said.

``In Quetta, for the third day, our international staff members based there were unable to attend their duties normally.

``The situation in Peshawar is somewhat similar, with some of our staff able to work in their offices but unable to go outside the city limits and certainly not in the tribal areas where we are supposed to continue demarcating sites, setting up access roads, making arrangements to provide what might be needed there,'' he added.

The Taliban, knowing they would come under U.S.-led air attack, told all foreign aid workers to leave the impoverished country weeks ago. They have since banned aid groups from using outside communications equipment and occupied some U.N. offices.

-- Anonymous, October 10, 2001

Answers

Amanpour: Taliban targets U.N. workers

October 10, 2001 Posted: 5:53 PM EDT (2153 GMT)

(CNN) -- There are reports from Afghanistan that workers for the United Nations' mine-action program have been targeted and assaulted by representatives of the Taliban in various Afghan cities.

Christiane Amanpour, stationed in Islamabad, has been following the story.

AMANPOUR: This clearly is a very worrying development. In view of the Taliban statements where they were complaining about the United States mistreating Afghan civilians, now we're hearing through the United Nations that Afghan civilians working for the benefit of all Afghans in their de-mining program – local U.N. staff working for non-government organizations over there – are being targeted and beaten up at several cities around Afghanistan.

This is what Stephanie Bunker, the U.N . spokeswoman for Afghanistan, said about it.

"The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) working with the United Nations' mine-action program are increasingly being targeted by Taliban authorities. Staff have been beaten in Kabul, in Kandahar and in Jalalabad. A significant number, not yet specified, of vehicles have been taken by the Taliban in Kandahar. This is in addition to yesterday's report about the taking over of three ambulances and one pickup (truck) in Kandahar belonging to mine-action NGOs, by the Taliban."

AMANPOUR: Let's put this in context about those mine workers. I followed their operations in Afghanistan, and this is a vital service to the security and safety of Afghan people. Afghanistan has one of the highest concentrations of land mines sown over the last two decades of war. And particularly around cities, they have so many people who have lost limbs because of these mines. So these people are performing a very vital task. And these are local Afghan civilians who are working in these delicate and difficult operations that the U.N. says are now being beaten up by the Taliban in various cities.

One more development on the Pakistani side: We are now getting more confirmation from military and intelligence sources that over the last couple of days there have been border clashes between Taliban militias and Pakistani border militia guards. Apparently, they say the Taliban tried to infiltrate over here, tried to stir up some trouble along the border areas in Pakistan, and they were eventually forced back, but not before four Pakistanis were wounded. Also, they have tried to fly, since these U.S. air strikes, several of their helicopter gunships over here to safety and they were turned back, according to Pakistani officials.

CNN: Also Christiane, I was reading a statement to Afghan refugees (from the Pakistani government), warning them that they shouldn't be involved in politics.

AMANPOUR: That's right, and that's a direct reference to the huge number of Afghani refugees who have been taking part in some of these demonstrations we've seen, the ones particularly that are close to the Afghan border. The minister of foreign affairs' spokesman basically said that if that’s what they were going to do here, they were going to be repatriated.

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001

Bunker said the Taliban Monday broke into the premises of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance (UNOCHA) in the northern town of Mazar-i-Sharif and took away communications equipment.

Guess they needed that because we destroyed theirs?

-- Anonymous, October 11, 2001