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International Diplomats Evacuate Afghanistan Fearing Retaliatory U.S. Strikes
KABUL, Sept 13 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - International diplomats, aid workers and many reporters evacuated Afghanistan Thursday amid growing fears that the country could become the center of retribution attacks by the U.S., news agencies reported.
According to CNN, three United Nations flights left the capital Kabul Thursday for Pakistan. On board were three international diplomats from the U.S., Germany and Australia.
They had been in the Kabul trying to secure the release of eight international aid workers on charges of converting Muslims to Christianity.
Many overseas journalists who had been reporting from Afghanistan also boarded the planes.
Also on board the aircraft were the last of the international U.N. staff. The U.N. has now completed the evacuation of 80 staff in total.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced Wednesday it was reducing its level of foreign staff in Afghanistan, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
"Of the 70 ICRC expatriates in Afghanistan, some 15 have already moved to Pakistan and others will arrive there in the coming days, but some 40 will stay behind in Afghanistan," said ICRC spokeswoman Antonella Notari.
"Everyone expects tensions in Afghanistan in the coming days, but we are prepared to assist the population," she said.
The International Committee for the Red Cross has also started to pull out its 30 international staff based in the country.
The reduction of all international and overseas workers by independent non-governmental aid groups is also under way and expected to be completed later Thursday, AFP reported.
The partial pull-out, a rare move by the Geneva-based body, comes after Afghan-based Osama bin Laden was named the number one suspect behind Tuesday's kamikaze passenger jet attacks on New York and Washington.
The departures have fuelled apprehension and fear on the streets about what will happen next.
Many Afghans, like the Taliban leadership, condemned the attacks and offered their sympathy. Taliban officials called the attack a "sad humanitarian catastrophe".
Denying any involvement in the attacks in New York and Washington, CNN's correspondent in Kabul said that the Taliban are very concerned about the possibility of retribution attacks against Afghanistan.
The Taliban on Wednesday issued further statements condemning the attack in Washington and New York and appealed to the U.S. not to attack the country, saying the Afghan people were already in a great deal of misery.
Wednesday's statement came after a meeting between senior Pakistani diplomats and Taliban officials. Pakistan is one of the only countries that recognizes the Taliban government.
Taliban officials also denied that bin Laden, the millionaire Saudi fugitive blamed for past attacks against U.S. targets, was behind the attacks.
Intelligence officials and other sources told CNN that bin Laden, or the Al Qaeda group he heads, are both considered as suspects in the attacks.
The Taliban gave sanctuary to bin Laden in 1996 mainly, they say, because of his role in war efforts that led to the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan after a 10-year occupation.
Significantly, the population and leadership are also concerned that any attacks could open the door for the Northern Alliance - effectively the opposition government in Afghanistan which has been engaged in a long running civil war with the Taliban.
The frontline of the conflict is around 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Kabul and has been more or less static for the past five years.
The Taliban fears that a sustained attack by the U.S. could help push forward an offensive from the Northern Alliance to retake Kabul.
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