Monday November 12 11:01 PM ET

Guard: Taliban Take Aid Workers

By KATHY GANNON, Associated Press Writer

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Taliban officials forced eight foreign aid workers to go with them as they fled Kabul early Tuesday ahead of advancing opposition forces, a jail guard said.

The defendants - two American women, two Australians and four Germans - are accused of spreading Christianity in Muslim Afghanistan.

``I saw them with my own eyes. They put them in the truck and then left at midnight. They said they are going to Kandahar,'' said Ajmal Mir, a guard at the abandoned detention center in the heart of the city where the eight had been held.

President Bush ordered the air attacks after the Taliban refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and his lieutenants in connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed at least 4,500 people in the United States.

The eight employees of Germany-based Shelter Now International - Americans Heather Mercer, 24, and Dayna Curry, 30; Germans George Taubmann, Margrit Stebnar, Kati Jelinek and Silke Duerrkopf; and Australians Peter Bunch and Diana Thomas - have been in jail since early August.

In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, Supreme Court Justice Maulvi Mir Habibullah said the aid workers were being well cared for. He said the court issued orders to the guards at the detention center in the heart of Kabul to treat the aid workers kindly.

``We have told them that they are human beings and should be treated with goodness,'' he said. ``They are separate from this new war we are facing. They should not be blamed for it.''

On Monday, the court said it had indefinitely postponed the trial of eight, fearing their anger over the U.S. airstrikes would prevent them from making a fair ruling.

``The bombardment and the court case are two separate things. We do not want one to involve the other,'' Habibullah said.

``What is happening between America and the Taliban has nothing to do with the court case against the detainees. We will not allow the two to be linked,'' he said.

As Habibullah spoke, the thud of anti-aircraft fire could be heard along with the roar of U.S. jets apparently heading toward the front line, barely 15 miles north of Kabul. Hours later early Tuesday, the Taliban had fled the city toward the south and the northern alliance began moving in.

Mercer's father, John, said the Taliban has assured him the U.S. campaign would not influence the ruling on the aid workers. He speculated the Taliban might use the workers as ``leverage'' in any negotiations, or release them in a show of goodwill.

``Their priorities because of the bombing have given them other priorities they need to address,'' he said. ``They're probably just trying to figure out what's the best thing to do next.''

John Mercer and Heather Mercer's mother, Deborah Oddy, are in Pakistan along with Curry's mother, Nancy Cassell, while the airstrikes continue. They say they haven't heard from their children since the end of October, when their lawyer, Atif Ali Khan, last visited them.

Khan has tried to get an indication from the court as to when the case may be wrapped up, but so far has been unsuccessful. He was expected to return to Afghanistan this week.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Answers

I have always suspected that they were arrested in the first place to be hostages.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

What is so bad about the Taliban version of Islam that it would be so threatened by Christianity?

What are they afraid of?

Hostages, definitely. I'm sure the US will do everything in its power to not hurt them, but...the US does not negotiate with kidnappers, and the Taliban have become just that.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Doesn't matter whether it's threatening or not, BF. To proselytize is illegal in Afghanistan and the aid workers knew that. After another religious solicitation at my door, sometimes I think the same ought to be true here, lol.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

But we still don't know for sure that they are guilty of that.

Since the trial has been put off indefinitely, and the accused have been taken away from the jail, we may never know.

I agree about what you said about here in the US. they always come to the door when I am doing something. It's like the phone, tell em to hold on, and then hang up, only I just shut the door. The phone takes 30 seconds before it disconnects the call, and they wait until the recording comes on telling them to hang up if they want to make a call. LOL

As to the door, I just ignore any repeated knocking. One time, though, I had them out there for 20 minutes waiting, I kept telling them to hold on, hold on, and then I finally found a Jethro Tull album, put that on real loud so I couldn't hear the knocking anymore. LOL

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Early on I saw video of children's bible books that (allegedly) had been used in the aid workers' work. Also, far as I know, the aid workers have never denied teaching western religion. I heard one of the aid workers saying those books were not in her luggage but she did NOT say that she never worked from them.

-- Anonymous, November 13, 2001

Most Islamic countries have laws against proslytizing (sp?) by other religions. A Catholic priest we know worked with Mother Theresa's organization in Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and he couldn't even wear his collar. He was warned that even talking about Christianity, much less attempting to convert someone, would be grounds for immediate deportation (Saudi Arabia) or outright execution (Yemen in the 1980s).

As for the aid workers, their release now will be nothing short of a miracle. I don't have a lot of hope for them.

-- Anonymous, November 14, 2001