Diplomats Vow to Stay in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Faced with the Taliban's refusal, Western diplomats said Wednesday they would remain here until they are allowed to see eight foreign aid workers jailed for allegedly trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
U.S., Australian and German diplomats arrived in the Afghan capital Kabul on Tuesday, hoping to see their jailed citizens - a request that the ruling Taliban militia has rejected.
So far, senior Taliban officials have largely rebuffed the envoys. Government ministers stayed in an all-day meeting Wednesday and the foreign minister, Wakil Ahmed Muttawakil, left Kabul without seeing the diplomats.
``The Taliban had told us they will not give us consular access, but we put forward our request on humanitarian grounds. We will be waiting here dutifully until the request comes through,'' Australian diplomat Alistair Adams told journalists in Kabul.
``We have to be patient,'' he said. ``We want to see them face to face.''
Adams, U.S. diplomat David Donahue and Germany's Helmut Landes brought supplies for the jailed workers and messages from their families.
The foreign aid workers - two Americans, four Germans and two Australians - were arrested more than a week ago for allegedly spreading Christianity in this Muslim nation. Their organization, operated by a German-based Christian group, has denied that its workers were proselytizing.
Muttawakil said earlier there would be no visits to the jailed workers until after an investigation into the proselytizing charges. There was no indication of when that would be.
Muttawakil also said the Taliban's Supreme Court would decide the aid workers' punishment if the investigation confirms they were trying to convert Muslims to Christianity.
According to Taliban law, the punishment for foreigners is a short jail term and expulsion. But 16 Afghan employees of the aid group who were also arrested could face the death sentence if they are found guilty.
So far the Taliban have not said what charges have been filed against the Afghan staff or where they are being held.
The Taliban's protocol officer showed the three diplomats Christian material they confiscated from the group, Shelter Now International.
The first arrests were made Aug. 4, at the home of an Afghan family where two Shelter Now International employees were allegedly showing Christian films translated into the local Dari language.
Shelter Now International, operated by the German-based Christian organization Vision for Asia, runs several projects in Afghanistan providing food aid and rebuilding war-destroyed irrigation systems and homes. The Taliban have closed all their projects.
The Taliban have said other aid organizations, including the United Nations, will be investigated to determine whether they are spreading Christianity. Other aid organizations in Kabul have denied any involvement in religious education.
Originally published August 15, 2001.
