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Taliban Orders Release of British Journalist, Aid Workers Offer Rejected
ISLAMABAD, Oct 6 (IslamOnline and News Agencies) - The Taliban said Saturday it would release British female journalist Yvonne Ridley, arrested a week ago for entering Afghanistan illegally, and pledges to release aid workers being held for proselytizing if U.S. halts war efforts against Afghanistan, news agencies reported.
Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Abdul Salam Zaeef told the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) that Ridley would be released "either today or tomorrow".
"Taliban leader [Mullah Mohammad Omar] issued the order following the British government's request for her release," Zaeef said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The British Foreign Office later confirmed the Taliban had promised to release Ridley soon, but that it had not been told precisely when.
"Our high commissioner in Islamabad has spoken to the Taliban representative in Islamabad this afternoon, who said that Kabul has confirmed that she will be released," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
"But we haven't got any timing yet."
Sunday Express reporter Ridley was detained near Jalalabad, eastern Afghanistan, on September 28th after slipping into the country disguised under an all-covering
burqa cloak, accompanied by two Afghan guides. She was not carrying a passport or Taliban visa.
The Taliban had said Ridley would be placed on trial and was being investigated on possible spying charges.
The Taliban statement on Saturday, which came hours after British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a lightning visit to Pakistan, did not mention any conditions placed on Ridley's release.
But shortly after the statement was issued, the Taliban militia fired at a suspected U.S. spy plane flying over Kabul, sparking fears among Ridley's relatives that the war initiative by the U.S. would jeopardize the reporter's chances of freedom.
Before hearing of the plane incident, Ridley's mother said she was delighted with her daughter's imminent release.
"I feel elated, it is such wonderful news," 74-year-old Joyce Ridley told the BBC.
After the alleged shooting of the plane, she was more circumspect and pleaded with the U.S.-led alliance looking to take retaliatory action against the Taliban for harboring Osama bin Laden to delay any strikes until her daughter was released.
"It was devastating," she said on Sky News of the Kabul incident.
"If I could have got hold of whoever was responsible I could have strangled them. As though they couldn't delay it.
"They should delay this military action that they're talking about, delay it and let a direct dialogue take place between the Taliban and the world."
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's ruling Taliban offered on Saturday to release eight detained international aid workers if the U.S. "stops its mass propaganda of military action against the Afghan people," CNN reported.
The U.S rejected that offer.
A Taliban foreign ministry statement said the militia would be "ready to take steps" to release the eight aid workers, but only if the United States agreed to "stop its widespread threats" against Afghanistan.
White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan swiftly rejected the Taliban offer.
"The president has called for their release imperatively and without conditions," Buchan said.
The workers, along with 16 Afghan colleagues were arrested on accusations of trying to convert Muslim Afghans to Christianity. The eight foreign workers have since been on trial, with the harshest possible sentence for the foreigners being abolition from the country.
A statement from the Taliban's foreign minister Wakil Ahmed Mutawakil released to CNN on Saturday said that the Taliban would release the aid workers if the United States withdraws its threat of military strikes against the Afghan people.
"If the United States is ready to ensure the Afghan people that their action is not against the Afghan people, the Taliban are ready to release the eight aid workers," the statement said.
The statement added that the U.S. could take action if it wishes, but the Taliban is prepared for military strikes.
Referring to the growing refugee crisis, the foreign ministry statement went on to say that the U.S should not "intimidate the people of Afghanistan" and should let them go home.
"The people should be allowed to return to their homes, they have been frightened and winter is coming and there is the possibility of a humanitarian catastrophe," CNN reported the Taliban statement as saying.
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