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Taliban Closes Two More Aid Groups in Afghanistan
KABUL, Aug 31 (News Agencies) - Afghanistan's Taliban militia Friday closed two more foreign aid groups amid a widening crackdown following the arrest of eight Christian relief workers for alleged proselytizing.
A Taliban foreign ministry official told Agence France-Presse (AFP) the offices of International Assistance Mission (IAM) and Serve, which were running separate projects in war-torn Afghanistan, had been closed around the country.
He said their foreign staff had been given 72 hours to leave the country from 8:00 am Friday but no employees, including Afghans, had been arrested.
"Based on the requirements of the high-ranking leaders of the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] these two groups were closed all over Afghanistan," said the official, who refused to be named.
He gave no reason for the move and could not say if it was linked to the arrest of 24 staff of German-based aid group Shelter Now International (SNI) for allegedly preaching Christianity in early August.
"The decision was made by the foreign ministry but I cannot say if the closure of these offices was linked to the SNI issue," he said.
Both groups' foreign staff, estimated at more than 50 mainly Europeans and Americans, are mostly Christian.
The U.S.-based IAM, the larger of the two groups, is a well-respected outfit which has been running medical projects including badly needed eye hospitals in Afghanistan for more than 30 years.
An AFP reporter in Kabul said IAM's office had been sealed with official tape and unarmed Taliban guards were posted at an IAM drug distribution outlet in another part of the city.
Six IAM staff - an American, two Australians, two Britons and a Norwegian - had crossed the border at Torkham near the northwestern Pakistani town of Peshawar around midday Friday, according to Pakistani frontier officials.
The whereabouts of Serve's foreign staff was not known.
About 12 Taliban cars arrived at IAM's main Kabul office late Thursday night to inform the group of the decision and at least some of the foreign staff headed for Pakistan by road early Friday morning.
The United Nations office in Pakistan said it was concerned about the latest developments.
"We are aware that the narrowing of the humanitarian space is continuing and it's now not only SNI that have been targeted but other NGOs [non-governmental organizations] as well," a U.N. spokeswoman told AFP.
The U.N. has previously complained of harassment and abuse of foreign aid workers by Taliban soldiers and warned that the deteriorating security situation was jeopardizing vital relief work.
Afghanistan is in the grip of a humanitarian crisis with some 800,000 people forced to flee their homes in the past year due to a severe drought and the ongoing civil war between the Taliban and opposition forces.
The Taliban, a movement of "Islamic students", seized Kabul in 1996 and imposed their rule in the areas they control.
The foreign ministry official dismissed complaints from the aid community about alleged harassment.
"They are narrowing their own working space as long as they keep trampling on our rules," he said.
Meanwhile, diplomats representing the eight SNI staff in custody were holed up at the United Nations guesthouse here Friday.
An Australian diplomat visited the two Australian prisoners on Thursday, but the others have not been seen since the only previous consular visit on Monday, when all were found to be in good health.
Afghans found guilty of renouncing Islam or inviting Muslims to convert to another religion face the death penalty, but the punishment for foreigners is a short prison stay followed by expulsion from the country.
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